Mumbai, Apr 25 (TOI): Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said his government has proposed to rope in 40 leading corporate houses to tackle the worst ever agrarian crisis that the state is facing.

He announced plans to change the crop insurance system and identify "vulnerable" families.

"Maharashtra's farmers are passing through a critical situation, since both the kharif and rabi crops have been completely damaged due to the drought and unseasonal showers. We have released a financial assistance of Rs 8,000 crore. We are working out a new strategy to address the farmers' woes," Fadnavis said after a high-level round table conference on agricultural development.

Fadnavis said his government has set up a unique platform—public private partnership for integrated agricultural development (PPP-IAD)—that was initiated with the help of World Economic Forum in 2013. Ten value chains, 20 corporate partners and a few lakh farmers have been roped in. The corporate partner in each value chain chips in with inputs on processing to marketing. "Now in the third year, the platform has grown to 30 value chains, 60 corporate partners and five lakh farmers," Fadnavis said.

"Currently, half-a-million farmers against a total number of 13 million farmers in the state are part of the value chain. It is our resolve to scale up the PPP-IAD initiate to cover at least five million farmers in the next five years. These value chains cover almost all major crops," he added.

The CM claimed that the PPP-IAD has resulted into faster and more efficient technology dissemination to farmers resulting into substantial increase in productivity, accelerated mechanization has resulted into reduced operational costs for the farmers and a transparent procurement system has resulted into increased returns for the farmers.

Stating that ensuring "more crop per drop" is the endeavour of his government, Fadnavis said two million hectares of agricultural land is already under micro-irrigation, while the target of his government is to bring in additional three million hectare in the next five years.

On the proposed changes in the crop insurance scheme, Fadnavis said it was found that there were serious flaws in the existing scheme, as a result, while the farmer is paying the premium, he is not getting the insurance benefit. "We have entrusted the task of new crop insurance scheme to a leading firm on a pilot basis. If it succeeds, then we will extend it all over Maharashtra," he said.

"We have proposed to examine satellite images for evaluation of damage to the crops," he said.

On the mapping of vulnerable families, Fadnavis said a high-level survey was being conducted in Yavatmal and Osmanabad districts on a pilot basis. "We will identify vulnerable families and the district administration will be entrusted with the task of paying a special attention to them," Fadnavis said.