State Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel listed a few important measures implemented by his ministry since the formation of the new government, during a press conference held in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. Sources said the media briefing was part of an effort of the BJP government to win public confidence in the run up to the assembly elections scheduled later this year. Notably, the Bhupendra Patel-led state government completed 121 days in office earlier this month.
The minister said the government has increased the subsidy for farmers to buy smartphones (priced Rs 15,000 or less) to 40 per cent of the product or Rs 6,000. Earlier, the subsidy provided was 10 per cent or Rs 1,500, whichever was less. Till January 17, 2022, a total of 12,421 farmers have applied for this aid on the i-Khedut portal, the minister said.
The government headed by Bhupendra Patel, who replaced former chief minister Vijay Rupani in September 2021, has also raised the financial assistance provided to farmers for buying tractors. The subsidy to buy tractors of 60 horsepower or less has been raised to Rs 60,000-75,000 or 25 per cent of the cost of the tractor. Similarly, the assistance provided to farmers for developing crop-storage facilities in their farm has been doubled to Rs 1 lakh or 50 per cent of the cost of the structure.
Raghavji Patel said the government has extended help to farmers facing crop loss owing to excess rainfall. He said the government has declared a Rs 547-crore relief package in the first phase for farmers in four districts — Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar and Rajkot. “Till date, the government has disbursed Rs 442.31 crore to 2.21 lakh farmers,” the minister said.
In the second phase, a Rs 531-crore package was declared for farmers in nine districts — Ahmedabad, Amreli, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Botad, Chotta Udepur, Junagadh, Panchmahal and Vadodara. Till date, Rs 99.08 crore has been given to 96,000 farmers in these nine districts.
“During the Kharif season in 2021, the state government bought 80,762 metric tonnes of groundnut and other pulses at the minimum support price (MSP) from 42,818 farmers. A total of Rs 448.3 crore has been paid to the farmers till January 17, 2022,” Raghavji Patel said. The state government also highlighted the financial aid being provided to farmers in Gujarat by the Union government. Under the 10th installment of the PM Kisan scheme, Rs 1,149 crore has been transferred directly to the bank accounts of 57.48 lakh families, the minister added.
The state government has also decided to constitute a Rs 100-crore fund for farmers taking up natural farming. Over 48,053 farmers have applied for government support on i-Khedut portal to build fences to protect crops from wild animals. Of these, the remaining 21,167 farmers or farmers groups will be selected through a draw. The minister stated that 13 newly launched mobile animal dispensaries and 94 health camps held during the 121-day period, have helped in treating 35,594 animals, benefiting 6,498 livestock farmers.