Orange growers in relief pkg, says min

NAGPUR: State agriculture minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil told the lower House on Tuesday that the government was considering the inclusion of orange growers of Vidarbha among beneficiaries of the Rs 1,000 crore special relief package announced by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan during the current winter session.
Responding to a calling attention motion moved by Morshi MLA (Independent) Anil Bonde, BJP's Sudhir Mugantiwar and Achalpur MLA Bacchu Kadu, the minister assured the House that the state was neglecting orange orchard owners who had suffered double loss of crop in 'Ambia' as well as 'Mrig' seasons because of unfavourable conditions.
While rejecting the demand of compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare of orange orchards, Vikhe-Patil said the government was aware of the problems faced by farmers and would do the needful.
Another MLA from the region Virendra Jagtap claimed that over 60 lakh orange trees had dried up in the Amravati-Nagpur belt and the farmers were in urgent need of government relief.
On the issue of crop insurance, Vikhe-Patil said orchards were not covered under the prevailing crop insurance policy. However, he said that the state had recently launched on pilot basis crop insurance for coconut in Konkan area and farmers of the region can replicate it here for oranges.
The agriculture minister also assured the members that efforts would be made to revive the orange juice processing plant at Katol and to promote exports. "Help of research institutes is being taken to improve quality of oranges grown in Vidarbha," he said.