Government flags off Rs.241 crore sops for coffee farmers

BANGALORE - The government announced Friday it has started implementing Rs.241.33 crore debt relief package that would benefit over 75,000 small coffee growers.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma flagged off the relief programme here by distributing the first batch of certificates to small coffee growers whose loans have been waived by the government under Coffee Debt Relief Package, 2010.

Sharma said 78,665 coffee growers would benefit from the scheme out of which 95 percent or 74,929 are small farmers.

Small farmers will get the benefit of part loan waiver as well as rescheduling of balance amount, while medium and large coffee growers would get the benefit of rescheduling of loan payments. Nearly five percent or 3,736 farmers are categorised as medium and large growers.

It is for the first time that the government has come forward with such a sizeable relief package which will directly address the problems of the coffee growers, especially the small growers.

The government has announced coffee rainfall insurance scheme to protect the coffee growers from weather risks.

The rainfall insurance scheme, which so far covered only deficit blossom/backing showers and heavy rains during the monsoon period, has now been expanded to also cover the losses due to un-seasonal rains.

During 2010, for monsoon and post monsoon coverage, a total of 15,790 coffee growers were covered with a total premium collection of about Rs.2 crore, of which 50 percent would be the government subsidy component. This is almost three times as compared to 5,200 coffee growers covered during the whole of previous year.

– Indo-Asian News Service