The Kerala Assembly on Thursday passed the Farmers Welfare Fund Bill, which aims to extend welfare measures including pension and insurance to farmers in the state.State Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar said that the Bill was passed in the House after much consultation with various stakeholders."A Farmers Welfare Fund Board will be formed, which will ensure that priority is given to small-scale marginal farmers in all welfare programmes," he said.The minister said that it is for the first time that such a welfare board is formed to exclusively address the problems faced by farmers.A 15-member select committee held multiple rounds of discussions with various farmer bodies across the state before the Bill was prepared.Setting up the board was one of the recommendations of the National Agricultural Commission to attract more people into farming.
