Gandhinagar, Dec 16 The Gujarat government has disbursed more than Rs 6,805 crore in financial assistance to farmers under the special economic package announced to compensate losses caused by unseasonal and unprecedented rainfall, Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia said.
Addressing the media, the minister said the state had moved swiftly to stand by farmers who suffered heavy crop losses due to erratic weather conditions.
Under the historic Rs 10,000-crore agricultural relief package announced by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, financial assistance is being transferred directly into farmers’ bank accounts following rapid crop damage surveys.
According to official data, over 33 lakh farmers across the state had applied for relief under the package. Of these, applications of more than 27 lakh farmers have already been approved. In just the last 10 days, assistance amounting to over Rs 6,805 crore has been credited to the accounts of more than 22.90 lakh beneficiaries.
The remaining payments are being processed on a war footing and will be completed shortly, the minister said. The relief amount per hectare has been doubled by the state government from Rs 11,000 to Rs 22,000, with a maximum assistance of Rs 44,000 for up to two hectares.
Farmers from nearly 17,000 of the state’s 18,000 villages have benefited from this enhanced support.
Highlighting the government’s parallel push through Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement, Modhwadia said Gujarat has emerged as a strong backer of farmers by ensuring assured purchases of groundnut and other crops.
Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, the state has committed to MSP procurement worth ₹15,000 crore this season.
A record 10.11 lakh farmers have registered for MSP procurement of groundnut, soybean, moong and urad this year—more than two-and-a-half times the registrations recorded last year.
For groundnut procurement alone, 317 purchase centres have been operationalised across 114 talukas.
Since November, the state has procured 10.49 lakh metric tonnes of produce worth Rs 7,537 crore from over 4.75 lakh farmers. Payments totalling Rs 3,468 crore have already been made to more than 2.18 lakh farmers, while procurement and payments for non-groundnut crops are currently underway.
“In a short span, the state government has transferred over Rs 8,798 crore directly to farmers’ accounts through relief assistance and MSP payments,” the minister said, adding that total disbursements under crop loss compensation and MSP procurement are expected to touch nearly Rs 26,000 crore.
Expressing gratitude to the chief minister for the farmer-centric approach, Modhwadia said members of the state cabinet, MLAs, cooperative leaders and representatives of farmer organisations met Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar to personally thank him for what they termed a historic and timely intervention.
Several ministers, legislators and leaders from cooperative and farmer bodies were present on the occasion, underscoring broad political and organisational support for the state government’s agricultural relief measures.
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