Agartala, May 06: The state agriculture and farmers welfare minister Ratan Lal Nath on Tuesday released Rs 79.88 crore financial assistance under the NDRF for at least 2,13,543 farmers, who were affected by the devastating flood in August previous year.
The funds were credited to the bank account of the farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in a function here at Agartala Rabindra Bhavan on Tuesday.
Addressing the gathering of farmers in the programme, the agriculture minister said that the government is working to enhance agricultural production by adopting modern technology and scientific method of farming. Efforts are being made to make the state self-sufficient in food by the next 3-4 years, he added.
The state has an annual demand of 9,53,000 metric tons of food grains, while the production is 8,49,000 metric tons, Nath said, adding that efforts have been made to meet the shortage of food grains. He said that the government at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha is putting utmost effort in enhancing the livelihood of the farmers through doubling up their income and also the youths are presently showing their interest in agricultural production.
Referring to the development of the socio-economic standards of the farming community, he said that there was never such a huge loss in the state due to the severe floods from August 19 to 22. Never ever in the history of Tripura such a huge amount had been allocated for farmers under any scheme, he said.
The minister said that apart from the NDRF funds, 1751 farmers in the state are set to receive additional Rs 39,43,000 under the PM Crop insurance scheme.
