Farmers there are dealing with paddy,flooding,inputs,insurance and now state is asking Centre for more support .
Ratan Lal Nath,Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister of Tripura,raised these points during National Conference on Agriculture for the Kharif Campaign 2026 in New Delhi . Conference was organised by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare,and Nath clearly pushed for stronger help for Tripura’s farm sector.
Main focus was paddy because it covers nearly 49% of state’s total gross cropped area . That itself shows why any problem in paddy farming directly hits food security and farmer income in Tripura.
Nath said state wants to expand hybrid paddy cultivation across additional 50,000 hectares during 2025-26 period . For this,there is budget allocation of ₹10 crore,but he urged Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to keep food security in mind while making provisions under PM-RKVY scheme.
Few things standing out from his demands:
- Hybrid paddy cultivation expansion across additional 50,000 hectares with ₹10 crore support during 2025-26.
- Organic farming under Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) has reached approximately 26,600 hectares and 26,800 farmers.
- Flooding should be treated as "local natural calamity" under PMFBY so affected paddy farmers get better compensation .
And tbh,the organic farming part is also interesting . Nath said MOVCD-NER has worked well in Tripura,with approximately 26,600 hectares converted to organic farming and additional 26,800 farmers adopting these practices . Since 96% of Tripura's farmers are small and marginal,he wants this scheme extended to cover all northeastern states.
But farming is not just about seeds and schemes only . Nath also raised issue of agricultural inputs and asked Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL) to ensure steady supply of urea . This matters because Tripura has significant areas under oil palm cultivation and that needs substantial chemical inputs .
He also proposed increasing assistance for bio-fencing in oil palm cultivation from ₹4,000 to ₹8,000 . For big people this may sound like small jump,but for local farmer trying to protect crop,this kind of support can matter a lot.
Then comes insurance issue,which feels most uncomfortable . Over 15 lakh farmers in Tripura have been enrolled in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) over past eight years,but Nath said paddy farmers in low-lying areas are still facing losses from flooding,and current insurance system is not covering them properly.
And this is where question becomes simple but heavy: if flood keeps damaging paddy fields every season,how long can small and marginal farmers keep waiting for rules to catch up with their reality…
