The Jammu and Kashmir government has provided Rs 70.49 crore from the calamity relief fund for immediate succour to farmers who suffered crop loss due to scanty rainfall last year, the legislative council was informed on Monday.

While Rs 64.31 crore has been kept at the disposal of divisional commissioner of Jammu, Rs 6.13 crore has been given to his Kashmir counterpart for providing 35 kg free ration to each family of drought-hit farmers per month for three months, agriculture minister Ghulam Hassan Mir said.

Besides, a memorandum seeking financial assistance to the tune of Rs 211.28 crore as compensation has been submitted to the Centre, he said.

The minister said average rainfall recorded from May to October 2009 in Jammu division was about 68 per cent below average causing production loss to the tune of Rs 322.76 crore to crops like paddy, maize, bajra, oil seeds and pulses.

The state government has also abolished VAT and toll tax on agriculture tools and implements, pesticides, weedicides and insecticides and toll tax on fertilisers from April one, he said.

Mir also said steps have been taken to ensure proper quality and timely distribution of seeds among farmers.

Certified seeds, produced in the departmental farms, are being distributed to the farming community, he added.

Noting that fertility of land declined due to non- judicious and imbalanced application of fertilisers, he said the average consumption of fertiliser (NPK) in the state is 85.7 kg per hectare which is far less than the consumption in Punjab and Haryana and also less than the national average.