BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to take up tomato and chilly crops for implementation of Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) in eight districts on a pilot basis.
As per the decision taken at a recent technical committee meeting, the scheme will first be implemented in Ganjam, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Balangir, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Jharsuguda districts, taking into consideration the area under cultivation.
Initially, Hinjilikatu, Rambha and Sergarh blocks in Ganjam, Rasulpur in Jajpur, Loisinga and Agalpur in Balangir, Sadar, Telkoi and Anandpur in Keonjhar, Kuliana and Morada in Mayurbhanj and Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district have been selected for tomato crop.
Similarly, Rambha, Chhatrapur and Purusottampur blocks in Ganjam, Kuchinda, Bamra and Jamankira in Sambalpur, Loisinga and Saintala in Balangir and Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi have been selected for chilly crop.
The Directorate of Horticulture has decided to prepare a term sheet for the pilot project with the rainfall data available with OUAT and parameters like temperature and humidity to be provided by IMD, Bhubaneswar. Director of Horticulture Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya has asked officials to collect model term sheets from the RWBCIS-implementing States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. He has suggested officials to visit some of these States to learn the process of implementation of the scheme there and complete the modalities for Odisha by September 15.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department has decided to extend insurance for the banana crop. The State nodal officer for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has been asked to initiate the process in this regard.
“The scale of finance for banana, tomato and chilly crops will be finalised at the meeting of district level technical committee which is a prerequisite for implementing PMFBY and RWBCIS,” said Upadhyaya.