The State government has for the first time decided to publish a village-wise list of farmers who have opted for crop insurance, mentioning total area under cultivation and crop name. The State recently faced embarrassment when the area affected by pink bollworm pest on cotton reported by 12 districts for compensation from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) turned out to be more than the total area under cultivation.
“This year, we have decided to put up the list of farmers who have availed crop insurance at the gram panchayat office in every village. This will help us verify if the details regarding area under cultivation and crop entered are correct,” said a senior official from the Agriculture Department. He said this will be done for the first time as the entire process was online. The official said this will also avoid errors like the one with the NDRF compensation request.
This year, 86 lakh farmers have opted for crop insurance; the deadline for the scheme was July 31. Last year, of the 83 lakh farmers who had enrolled, 45 lakh had benefited from it. According to the government, ₹2,500 crore were distributed from the State while ₹3,400 crore have been sought from the NDRF.
“A key benefit of the expansion of crop insurance is that farmers are able to take risks. Those from areas depending on the rabi season, have cultivated kharif crop as well. A well-coordinated insurance cycle may eventually even decrease the farmers’ dependence on crop loans,” said the officer. Premium up to 20% on capital invested by the farmer is paid to insurance firms. Of this, 2% is paid by farmers while the rest is shared by the State and Centre.