New Delhi, Nov 03: Government will implement from the current rabi season an income support scheme for wheat cultivators in the country to ensure an assured price for the farmers. The pilot scheme restricted for the time being to only wheat, will be initially taken up in 23 districts of 18 states of the country.

"The crop insurance will be replaced by ISS for wheat in one or two districts of all the major states from this month. The idea is to make government procurement redundant in the long run and yet provide an assured price to farmers on a fixed quantity", official sources said. They said both the price and yield will be insured by the agricultural insurance company while the Centre will give a fixed subsidy.

The subsidy to be given on premium will be 75 per cent for small farmers and 50 per cent for large farmers. Compensation will be given under fixed norms by the insurance company directly to the farmers.

An average price will be worked out by the mandi samiti of the concerned district and in case it is less than the government fixed procurement price, the differential will be paid to the farmer. Similarly, a threshold yield will also be calculated in the district through the crop-cutting experiments and if the actual yield is lower, again, the farmer will be compensated for the loss in produce.

Bureau Report