Kerala announces compensation for crop loss

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 26: The Kerala Government today announced a compensation of Rs 10,000 per hectare to farmers who suffered paddy crop losses due to summer rains.

In a post-Cabinet Press briefing, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the summer rain, that claimed 16 lives, had caused widespread damage to agriculture crop. Paddy crop in 28,231 hectares of land belonging to 40,826 farmers had been affected by the rain. Of this, complete crop loss was reported in 17,000 hectares.

The amount would be disbursed to the farmers from tomorrow. Those who suffered partial crop loss would be compensated proportional to the damage, he added.

The Cabinet took the decision on the basis of the recommendations of a high-level committee that did preliminary field-level survey.

The Chief Minister said a Central team would visit the affected areas soon to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

UNI