Ahmedabad: More than two lakh farmers from four districts have applied for aid under the Rs. 546 crore farm relief package announced by the state government to compensate them for losses arising due to heavy rains in September.
Farmers in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, and Junagadh, who suffered crop loss of 33% or more because of the heavy rains, are eligible to receive Rs. 13,000 per hectare for a maximum of two hectares under the package.
Agriculture minister Raghavji Patel said that 2.06 lakh farmers have submitted applications for compensation against an estimated 2.82 lakh farmers who suffered crop losses.
“The compensation is being transferred to their bank accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer. So, far, assistance of Rs. 151.87 crore has been approved in 74,090 applications,” the minister told reporters on Tuesday, adding the process to initiate the payments to farmers’ bank accounts was initiated on November 1.
The last date for submitting the online applications for getting the compensation is November 20, a statement said.
Separately, the minister said that procurement of groundnut, moong, urad, and soybean under the Kharif 2021 Price Support Scheme has commenced and is going on smoothly. He also assured farmers that there is no shortage of urea or any other fertilisers, and appealed to farmers against panic buying.