NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to announce a rehabilitation package for farmers in suicide prone districts of four States when he visits Vidarbha, in Maharashtra, on Thursday. Farmers' suicides have shown a spurt in the last two years in the region.

The Ministry of Agriculture has proposed a Rs. 1,21,210 crore rehabilitation package over five years, which is likely to be finalised on Tuesday. For this year, the Ministry has proposed a figure of about Rs. 1,100 crore. Of the 31 districts identified for intervention, 16 are in Andhra Pradesh, six each in Maharashtra and Karnataka and three in Kerala.

Contents of package

The package includes complete institutional credit cover to farmers, one-time settlement on the repayment of loans by small and marginal farmers, launch of pilot Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme which will provide cover for crops, farmers' health and assets, enhancement of seed replacement rate to at least 50 per cent for various crops, schemes for irrigation, water harvesting and check dams.

It calls for a shift from mono-cropping to multiple cropping agriculture in the drought affected regions. For supplementary income, the proposal is to help farmers initiate livestock, dairying, poultry and horticulture ventures with enhanced subsidy. The extension services are to be strengthened and marketing opportunities would be enhanced.

The package proposes bringing larger areas under hybrid seeds, particularly cotton, maize and coarse grains and for integrated pest management. In Andhra Pradesh it has proposed to enhance area under maize and in Maharashtra replace the cotton crop with pulses. For Kerala, the stress is on improving productivity of plantation crops.

The Ministry's proposal, made in March when Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced the package in his reply to demand for grants in Parliament, was mired in financial constraints. However, in the recent meeting of the Agriculture Coordination Committee, it was decided that the Centre should intervene in a visible manner.

By linking its proposals with NABARD, Bharat Nirman programme, the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, the Agriculture Ministry has limited its spending for the package.

Official sources said that between 2001 and 2006, as many as 5,910 farmers committed suicide in Karnataka, 1,835 in Andhra Pradesh, 981 in Maharashtra and 201 in Kerala. Countrywide, between 1995 and 2003, 9.26 lakh farmers are reported to have committed suicide according to statistics put out by the Home Ministry. The main causes are reported to be indebtedness, crop failure, other economic and psychological reasons.

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