Agriculture crops cultivated in about 50.40 million hectare of area have been affected across the country due to heavy rains, floods and landslides so far this year, with maximum damage reported in Karnataka, parliament was informed on Tuesday.
Agriculture minister narendra singh tomar, in his written reply to the lok sabha, said about $118.28 million has been released as November 25 from the state disaster response fund(SDR).
Additional assistance, over and above SDRF, is by National Disaster response Fund (NDRF) natural Calamities of severe nature and is approved based on the memorandum received from the state governments. he added_
As per the data placed before the lower House, Karnataka has reported a crop damage in maximum area of 13.98 million hectare as of November 25, followed by West Bengal (6.90 million hectare), Rajasthan (6.79 million hectare). Bihar (5.80 million hectare), Maharashtra (4.55 million hectare) and Uttar Pradesh (3.61 million hectare).
On a question that if the Center plans to waive loans of farmers in the affected districts, Tomar said. “No sir.”
He said the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) provides training to farmers on effective flood management in flood plains and flood-prone ecologists of India.
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