Kozhikode: Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare secretary Manoj Ahuja directed the state chief secretary to extend the benefits of the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to all eligible farmers in the state.

Besides demanding the appointment of a nodal officer in every village to oversee the matter, Ahuja also directed the chief secretary to ensure that the maximum number of farmers receive the benefits by January 15. 

The PM-Kisan scheme allocates Rs 500 per month, which is deposited in the farmer's designated bank account every four months. Despite being eligible, about 2.3 lakh farmers in the state are still outside the scheme. The Krishi Bhavans in the state are tasked to prepare the list of beneficiaries and forward it to the centre.

However, due to various issues, many farmers are yet to receive benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, which aims to provide minimum income support of up to Rs. 6000 to all small and marginal farmers per year.

Besides criticising the state for its lacklustre approach in educating farmers about the scheme, Ahuja said that all expenses for the scheme being borne by the central special administrative fund. He also directed the state to conduct large-scale campaigns at the village level to promote the scheme. 

So far, the Centre has distributed Rs 2.80 lakh to Rs 11 crore farmers in the country under the scheme. In the current fiscal year, Rs 1213.80 crore has been sanctioned to 26,18,263 farmers in Kerala. At the same time, 8,79,494 farmers were removed from the scheme for failing to furnish their land details, update their KYC forms and Aadhaar-related issues. 

Despite being eligible, the Thrissur district (34,686) has the highest number of farmers who have not enrolled in the scheme. Similarly, 21,656 farmers in Alappuzha and 20,846 in Thiruvananthapuram are yet to avail the benefits offered by the scheme.

Agriculture Minister P. Prasad said that the agriculture department has already made arrangements to make the scheme available to all eligible farmers. 

Criteria

  • A Small and Marginal landholder farmer family comprising of husband, wife and minor children
  • Collective land ownership of the family is up to 2 hectares of land
  • The existing land-ownership system will be used for the identification of beneficiaries for the calculation of benefit

Farmers can apply online, either in person or via Akshaya centres through the PM Kisan website. They must hold a valid bank account or India Post payment bank account. Inspection of the land will be done after the submission of the required documents at Krishi Bhavan.