Patna: Agriculture minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Friday appealed to eligible farmers in the affected districts to file online applications by Oct 25 on the department’s portal to avail the agricultural input subsidy against crop damage suffered during the floods in the last week of Sept this year.He said crop damage had been reported in 289 panchayats of 43 blocks in nine districts. Both ryots (landowners) and non-ryots can avail of the benefit, provided they also submit a current land possession certificate or one pertaining to any of the last three financial years.The agriculture department said in a communique that the agricultural input subsidy would be given for crop damage on three types of land — non-irrigated, irrigated and multi-year crop land, such as land used for sugarcane.While the agricultural input subsidy would be given for a maximum of 2 hectares of land, the maximum subsidy for non-irrigated land would be Rs 8,500 per hectare. For irrigated land, it would be Rs 17,000 per hectare, and Rs 22,500 per hectare for multi-year crop land.Besides, the govt has also provided for a minimum subsidy of Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 on the three types of land, respectively.“The agricultural input subsidy is being provided to the affected farmers as compensation for the crop damage to assist them in their farming activities in the coming rabi season,” Sinha said.
