A meeting of Chief Ministers will be called to sort out difficulties in implementation of the national crop insurance scheme, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told the Lok Sabha today.
Pawar stated this while replying to supplementaries during Question Hour.
As many as 46.55 lakh farmers have been paid insurance claims under the National Crop Insurance Scheme (NIAS) in 2008-09, he said adding that as many as 190 lakh farmers have been covered under it.
A proposal to modify the NIAS has been prepared based on the recommendations submitted by a joint group constituted by the government to suggest improvements to the scheme.
In reply to a separate question, Pawar said the minimum support price (MSP) for 2009 for milling copra has been fixed at Rs 4,450 per quintal and that of ball copra at Rs 4,700 per quintal as against Rs 3,660 and Rs 3,910 per quintal respectively for the previous year.
MSP for de-husked coconut has been fixed at Rs 12 per kg for 2009 as against Rs 9.88 per kg for the previous year.