Kolkata, June 16: For the first time in the country, West Bengal government today announced a crop loan scheme for fishermen on the lines of agriculture sector, besides an insurance scheme for fish crop, benefitting about 16 lakh cultivators. Minister for Fisheries Kiranmoy Nanda told reporters here that as per the loan scheme, fish farmers would be provided capital loans keeping in mind the size of their fisheries. Nabard, he said, was providing Rs 150 crore for the scheme on re-financing basis and the loans would be disbursed through the rural and cooperative banks, since the mainstream nationalised banks were reluctant to handle such schemes. "The scheme is intended to encourage better utilisation of the fisheries. We expect this will not only increase production, but also productivity in which West Bengal is already the best among all states," he said.
Pointing out that fish farmers were the worst off during natural disasters as they hardly got any compensation, Nanda said that to mitigate their problems, his department has introduced an insurance scheme aiming to reimburse upto 80 per cent of the damage.
Stating that the premium has been fixed at 4.2 per cent of the projected production, the minister said his department would pay the premium for those covered under the Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA), while those outside it would have to pay their own premium.
Nanda said he requested the Centre to take up a nation-wide fish survey scheme. Bureau Report