Govt to introduce farm income insurance scheme: Agri Minister

Agriculture ministry would provide soil health cards to all farmers in the country which would inform them about strengths and weakness of their farm soil

The government plans to introduce Farm Income Insurance (FII) scheme to give cover on earnings expected from crop yield, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said here today.

The minister also said that his Ministry would provide soil health cards to all farmers in the country which would inform them about strengths and weakness of their farm soil.

"Only subsidy cannot ensure farmers' income. While some states have opted to implement the old National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), some opted to implement a modified NAIS. However, Gujarat came up with this idea of an income-based agriculture scheme," Singh said.

"We have been holding meetings to finalise the FII scheme. I hope that the Gujarat government will give its guidance to make it effective," Singh said.

In 1999, the Government of India introduced a National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS), which operates on the basis of area-based crop insurance to protect farmers against unavoidable perils like drought, heat, insects and others.