Government to give free crop insurance to farmers in Odisha for 3yrs

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government announced that it will provide free crop insurance to all farmers in the state for the next three years. Odisha is the first state in the country to provide free crop insurance to farmers.

Minister of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare of Odisha Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak made the announcement after a review of his department by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

As many as 1,451 new Primary Agricultural Co-operative Societies (PACS) have been formed to further extend short-term loans to the farmers

The Department would bear the premium of the insurance from the 2023 Kharif season to the 2025-26 Rabi season. Short terms agriculture loans are being provided at low interest rates to the farmers.

Furthermore, the state government has increased the interest-free loan cap from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Under the scheme, more than 7 lakh small and marginal farmers have been provided loans, amounting to Rs 16,683.57 crore during the 2022-23 financial year, the Minister informed.