COLOMBO (NewsRadio); The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board has taken steps to grant Rs.657 million using funds allocated by the government to compensate the farmers who suffered crop damage during the 2021-22 Maha season.
Compensation will be granted to 31,613 farmers for 42,934 acres of land.
The Ministry of Agriculture said taking into account the damage caused to crops due to drought, flood and wild elephants, during the 2021-22 season, steps have been taken to award compensation.
Accordingly, farmers from the Anuradhapura district will receive the highest amount of compensation in terms of regions.
The Ministry said Rs 81 million had been allocated for Anuradhapura, Rs.69 million to Manampitiya in Polonnaruwa and Rs.68 million to Monaragala to compensate affected farmers.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera said that it has been decided to raise the insurance amount per acre for six types of crops to Rs.100,000.
For that, the government will provide Rs.40,000 and the farmers can participate in the scheme to receive compensation of Rs.100,000 per acre by contributing Rs.6,400 per season for the remaining Rs.60,000.
The insurance scheme is designed to cover crop losses for paddy, maize, potato, chilli, onion, and soybean cultivations.
The Ministry noted that under the crop damage insurance scheme, the government pays Rs.40,000 on behalf of each farmer.
The Agriculture Ministry has announced that farmers by obtaining a membership by paying Rs.6,400 per season, can receive compensation of Rs.250,000 per hectare.
The Minister also said that since the damage caused by wild animals as well as crop damage due to epidemic conditions such as the fall armyworm threat has increased, joining the insurance scheme will be beneficial for the farmers.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has also indicated that despite the country’s financial crisis, the government has allocated Rs.657 million to compensate farmers for crop damage in addition to other subsidy schemes.
