Moving with the times in the wake of damage to crops and a scenario of hopelessness among farmers of the country, the largest farmers cooperative of the world IFFCO , whose Board met on Thursday pledged Rs. 10 crores as financial assistance to distressed farmers.
Responding to the tragic death of Gajender Singh in Delhi on Wednesday, the IFFCO Board also decided to help his family with immediate relief of Rs one lakh. The Board also deliberated on rescuing those farmers who have gone into a state of despair and are likely to commit suicide. We have to stop them at any rate, IFFCO MD reportedly said in the Board meeting. The Board has decided to provide a monetary help of Rs 25,000 to such farmers.
A fund of Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for the purpose. Balvinder Singh Nakai, Chairman of IFFCO said the money will be routed through the IFFCO Kisan Sewa Trust (IKST), which was instituted for the purpose of providing 
relief to farmers in distress.
IKST regularly provides medical, financial or any other assistance to the farmers and their families. The recent spate of unseasonal rains has spelt doom for the farmers of our country especially for those in Northern and Central India. Not only has it caused damage to an estimated 16% of the cropped area but has severely dented the confidence and will of the farmers. This has driven many of our farmer friends to do the unthinkable.
Dr. U. S. Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO said that apart from this IFFCO has also pledged to give Rs 1 lakh to the family of Gajendra Singh, the 41-year-old farmer from Dausa, Rajasthan who took his own life in full public glare in the capital yesterday
Explaining the broad mechanism Dr. Awasthi said that IFFCO would leverage its reach to the fullest to make this mission a success. We will mobilize our entire marketing staff; our member societies, delegates and even Directors to identify acutely distressed farmers who are in dire need to financial assistance. Post this we immediately provided them the support of up-to Rs. 25,000/- apart from any other assistance they get from the government. We have given us 3 months to complete this cumbersome exercise. Also, IFFCO will deploy IKSL for broadcasting this message to farmers through its network.
IFFCO also supports the direct subsidy to famers instead to any fertilizer companies. The new channel of Jan Dhan Yojna can be used for this purpose. The new financial inclusion scheme is very useful for the farmers, according to the press release.
It is important to note that IFFCO’s IKST regularly keep on helping farmers in any kind of distress at its own level with the help of cooperative route. Last year IKST also pitched in & helped the flood affected in Jammu & Kashmir, read a press release from IFFCO.
