Green Cards for Farmers

The LDF of Government is pursuing a strategy of empowering farmers financially to make strides in paddy production. The green card facility will be launched for farmers at Palakkad on November 1. Farmers holding green cards will be entitled to interest free loans upto 180 days for nurturing their crops. This was announced by Agriculture Minister at a function at Kollam to observe August 17 as Farmers’ Day. The green card scheme will be initially introduced in Palakkad, Alappuzha and Thrissur districts. The green card holders will also receive assistance under various Government schemes directly through their bank accounts.

Inaugurating the Farmers’ Day celebration, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that the Government would on no account allow reclamation of paddy fields and water bodies as such actions would be detrimental to the State’s food security and environment. Opposition to the legislation prohibiting reclamation will only help the land mafia and endanger food security of the State. Government has taken a series of measures for reinvigorating the farming sector to achieve self-sufficiency. Insurance scheme launched for the farmers, higher procurement price for paddy, interest free farm loans and a pension scheme in the pipeline are some of the important measures.

Green Cards for Farmers

The State faces an alarming deficit on the food front. The State is not producing even one fifth of its rice requirement. We had an extent of 3.40 lakh hectares of paddy fields in 2000, which is now reduced to 2.64 hectares. Production at present is only 6.40 lakh tonnes. So the Government has come up with programmes to increase the production of paddy on a war footing. The aim is to enable the State to increase paddy production to 9.75 lakh tonnes. Various schemes are also being implemented in the State to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of eggs, milk and vegetables.