Agartala (Tripura) [India], May 31 (ANI): To boost the agriculture sector and help the farmers, Tripura's Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath has proposed a series of proposals, including inclusion of flooding under the 'local natural calamity' category in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) guidelines, to Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Nath said this today while addressing the National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign 2026 in New Delhi, organised by the Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare. Agriculture Ministers from 19 states participated in the conference.

He said that paddy is the main crop in Tripura. Around 49% of the total Gross Cropped Area is under paddy cultivation. In the year 2025-26, approximately fifty thousand (50,000) hectares will be brought under hybrid paddy cultivation in the state. The State Budget has provided assistance of Rs 10 crore.

'This year we want to increase the area under hybrid paddy cultivation. That is why I want to request the Union Minister to consider the issue of food security and make provisions under the PM-RKVY scheme to increase hybrid paddy cultivation. The MOVCD-NER scheme has been successfully implemented in Tripura. Organic farming has been started in 26,600 areas in the state and 26,800 more farmers have taken it up. Tripura has 96% small and marginal farmers and we demand that this scheme be extended to all the North-Eastern states as well as the entire state,' said the Minister.

The Minister also requested the Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation Limited (BVFCL) to ensure a continuous supply of urea.

'Our state has a large oil palm cultivation area. For this, a large amount of chemical inputs is required. Therefore, I want to request the Fertiliser Ministry to provide additional funds for chemical inputs,' he said.

He said that in the last eight years, the state government has included over 15 lakh farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

'The paddy growers in the low-lying areas of the state suffer huge losses due to inundation of their paddy fields during heavy rains, but they do not receive insurance benefits. In order to compensate for the loss of paddy crops to a large extent, I want to request inclusion of flooding under the category of 'local natural calamity' in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) guidelines,' said the Minister.

The Minister also requested an increase in assistance for bio-fencing of oil palm from Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 8,000.

'In the last three or four years, the Apical Rooted Cuttings (ARC) method has been used in our state to cultivate potatoes, due to which farmers have achieved three times higher production. It is very important to continue the consultation fee as per the MoU with the International Potato Centre (CIP), Lima, Peru. But this year, the RKVY-DPR scheme has been withdrawn. I want to request that the consultation fee be reintroduced,' he said. (ANI)