Gujarat farmers got financial assistance worth Rs 6,600 crore in 3 years: Govt

The Gujarat government has paid Rs 6,624 crore to 59.81 lakh farmers in the state as compensation for crop damages due to various natural calamities in the past three years, said Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel Wednesday. He was replying to a question raised by Deesa MLA Shashikant Pandya on the financial assistance to farmers of Banaskantha and Jamnagar districts owing to very heavy rains.

According to Patel, the government has paid Rs 2,489 crore to 33.18 lakh farmers in 2019-20 and Rs 2,905 crore to 19.03 lakh farmers in 2020-21. Also, following the Tauktae Cyclone, the government paid Rs 409 crore to 1.97 lakh farmers, he said.

In 2021-22, the government paid the farmers in two phases in an agricultural package. In Phase-1, Rs 442 crore was paid to 2.21 lakh farmers and in Phase 2, Rs 376 crore to 3.68 lakh farmers.

In the current year, Patel added, a survey is being done to assess the damages to the crops due to heavy rain across the state. Financial assistance will be paid once the survey is over, he said.