Farmers who cultivated amid unruly weather and climatic conditions, and those didn't cultivate their land due to the scarcity of water will be paid compensation from the first week of April, said Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake.
He was addressing the ceremony to commence renovation of the dilapidated road from Galnewa to Halmillewa recently.
He said, earlier, the Grama Niladari and Agriculture Research Officers prepared the list of drought-hit farmer families ignoring those who possessed a vehicle such as a tractor or if there was an employed member in the family. All circulars which required such information have been cancelled and only the cultivation losses would be taken into account for the purpose of compensation on the basis of Rs. 40,000 per victimized family.
The minister said that the President was personally involved in taking such optimistic decisions for the benefit of aggrieved farmers. Dissanayake said a new farmer-friendly crop insurance methodology would be effected from next Yala to pay a substantial compensation for crop losses to farmers. Under the new scheme, compensation would be measured on the basis of the harvest the farmer would have secured if there was no crop failure. In the circumstances, the insurance of paddy lands would be declared compulsory and only those who insured their farm lands would be granted fertilizer subsidy in the future, the minister said.
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