Bhopal, June 16 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the existing model to assess crop damage should be replaced by the revenue model.

Addressing the national conference on crop insurance here, the chief minister said: "While assessing the loss to the farmers, we always check for the total yield but instead, we should focus on the loss in terms of revenue...in other words, revenue for yield model."

"Also, the village panchayats should monitor the loss. This will bring transparency in the system," Chouhan said.

Slamming the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the Madhya Pradesh chief minister said: "The farmer was never in focus or consideration during policy framing under the UPA rule."

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, who was also present on the occasion, told IANS: "In the last seven years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Madhya Pradesh has brought 36 lakh hectares of land under irrigation which was just 7.5 lakh hectares earlier."

"It is because of irrigation facilities that Madhya Pradesh has become second largest producer of wheat in India," said Madhya Pradesh chief secretary Anthony J.C. DeSa.