|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 15 October 2003 |
 |
|
 |
News | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
by Uditha Kumarasinghe The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board (AAIB) has granted special six months' grace from October 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004 to farmers who have defaulted less than five instalments to the AAIB farmers' pension scheme. Membership of farmers who have not paid at least five instalments to the scheme will be cancelled. Over 200,000 farmers have defaulted their instalments due to various socio-economic hardships. Following a request by the farmers, Agriculture, Livestock and Samurdhi Minister S.B.Dissanayake has granted a special six-month grace period to farmers to repay their instalments, Acting Director Farmers' Pensions, U. R. Chandradasa told the Daily News. Since its inception in 1987, the pension scheme has extended a helping hand to the farmers. It has successfully encouraged the savings habit among farmers and intervened to overcome the risks in cultivation. He said nearly 800,000 farmers have become active members of the Pension Scheme implemented by the AAIB which comes under the Agriculture Ministry. Of them, 18,000 farmers receive pension benefits. Rs. 18 million is spent monthly to pay farmers' pensions. The AAIB plans to enrol 50,000 farmers to the pension scheme this year under the five year corporate plan formulated to expand the benefits of the scheme to the farmer community in a more productive manner. Twenty thousand farmers have already been recruited, he said. Farmers aged between 18 to 59 can join this scheme. The pension scheme gives Rs. 50,000 insurance coverage to each member. Eighty per cent of the farmers who have obtained membership of this scheme are between the ages 18 to 45. The scheme's prime objective is to provide financial assistance to farmers to conduct their livelihood, specially in their early stages and add respect to the farmers role in the economy. In addition, financial support will be given to the farmers for full or partial disability. If a farmer dies, claims will be paid to his dependants, he said. The AAIB will expand this pension scheme to the North-East too. A large number of farmers in the North-East have joined this scheme. The AAIB hopes to enrol 10,000 North-East farmers to the scheme this year, he said. AAIB District Offices are functioning at Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Mannar, Ampara and Jaffna districts. This has enabled the AAIB to successfully implement the farmer pension scheme in the North-East by providing benefits to a large number of farmers. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
