Odisha government has allocated an additional Rs 3,234 crore for covering more farmers under the Kalia scheme during 2019-20, officials said on Friday.
Under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme, farmers get Rs 5,000 financial assistance per crop. A farm household is entitled to get Rs 10,000 per year for two crops (Kharif and Rabi), they said.
According to a notification issued by the Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment department, in accordance with the state Cabinet's decision on May 29 to include 32.34 lakh additional beneficiaries under the scheme, more funds is being made available to ensure that all eligible beneficiaries get benefit.
"It has been now been decided that a further additional 32.34 lakh small farmers/marginal farmers/actual cultivators (share croppers)/ landless agricultural households be included in the Kalia scheme during 2019-20, apart from the farm families already assisted in 2018-19, so that no one who is eligible will be left out," the notification said.
Out of a total of 75 lakh farm families to be included in the Kalia scheme, 50 lakh will be small and marginal farmers and sharecroppers while the remaining 25 lakh will be landless agricultural households.
This can be modified between the categories by the state government subject to the overall target under these two components of 75 lakh farm families, it said adding that the funds required for 2019-20 is estimated to be Rs 3,234 crore excluding the administrative cost, for 32.34 lakh farmers/landless agricultural households.
Earlier, the state government has made provision of Rs 10,000 crore for implementation of the Kalia scheme. Now after inclusion of more farmers, the total funds requirement for the scheme would be around Rs 13,234 crore for the 2019-20 fiscal.
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