NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday extended a one-time package to subsidise key fertiliser DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) at a cost of up to Rs 3,850 crore and enhanced the outlay and approved a one-year extension of two crop insurance schemes, decisions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi said were dedicated to farmers.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the PM, extended two crop insurance schemes Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) for one year till 2025-26 and created a separate Rs 824.77 crore fund for technology infusion in the implementation of the flagship schemes.
The insurance schemes have been extended to align these with the 15th Finance Commission period. The total outlay for the PMFBY and the RWBCI has been enhanced to Rs 69,515.71 crore for 2021-22 to 2025-26, higher from Rs 66,550 crore for 2020-21 to 2024-25. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ashwini Vaishnaw told the media that the Cabinet approved the extension of special DAP package to ensure its sustainable availability at affordable prices to farmers.
Dismissing queries on problems being faced by farmers due to the shortage of fertilisers, the minister claimed before 2014, scuffles would take place among farmers over fertiliser bags, whereas now fertilisers were available in adequate quantities.
“The Cabinet decision will ensure that farmers will continue to get a 50-kg bag of DAP fertiliser at Rs 1,350, despite disruptions in the global supply chain due to the ongoing geopolitical conflicts,” Vaishnaw said.
Last year, the Centre announced a one-time special package on DAP at Rs 3,500 per tonne, valid from April 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, with a financial implication of Rs 2,625 crore to keep prices under check. The package was over and above the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) fixed by the government on non-urea nutrients.
In a post on X, the Prime Minister Modi said, “(The government’s) first decision of the New Year is dedicated to crores of farmer brothers and sisters of our country. We have increased the fund allocation for the crop insurance scheme. This will provide more security to farmers’ crops and will also mitigate their concerns about any damage”.
On ongoing farmer protests in Punjab and why the government is unable to convince them, Vaishnaw said, “If you would have moved around during the Haryana elections, farmers gave great feedback on ‘andolan’ versus real welfare versus ‘good to farmers’, you would have yourself seen.”
The Centre provides 28 grades of P&K (phosphatic and potassic) nutrients to farmers at subsidised prices through fertiliser manufacturers/importers. The subsidy on P&K fertilisers is governed by the NBS Scheme with effect from April 1, 2010.