Crop insurance cover for 22 lakh farmers

BHUBANESWAR: With calamities striking Odisha at frequent intervals and vagaries of nature taking heavy toll on livelihood of the farming community, the State Government on Tuesday set a target to extend crop insurance coverage to over 22 lakh farmers during the coming kharif season.Chairing a meeting of the State level coordination committee on crop insurance here, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said it has become imperative to bring more farmers under the protective umbrella of crop insurance.

A review on the performance of crop insurance schemes in past years showed that during 2018 kharif season, around 15 lakh farmers were registered under crop insurance with a total premium of Rs 1,102 crore. A target was set to insure at least 22 lakh farmers during the coming kharif season. With this, the total premium to be paid by the Government is estimated at around Rs 1,380 crore.Around 98 per cent of the total premium is shared by the State and Centre on 50:50 basis and the balance two per cent is paid by the farmer. 

A comparative calculation of the premium paid and claim payouts given by insurance companies to farmers revealed that in 2017, an amount of Rs 940 crore was paid to insurance companies towards premium for kharif crop against which the total claim payout to the farmers was Rs 1,726 crore.During 2017 Rabi season, a total premium of Rs 19.14 crore was paid against crop compensation of Rs 43 crore. In 2018, an amount of Rs 1,102 crore was paid to the insurance companies towards premium. The yield rate report for 2018 has already been given to the companies after crop cutting experiments. 

Senior officers of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment department expect that this year, the claim payout may cross Rs 1,200 crore for kharif crop. The assessment of Rabi crop loss is going on. An amount of Rs 8.23 crore has been paid towards premium to the companies.The Centre has introduced yield-based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather index-based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) from kharif 2016 to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss due to natural calamities and adverse weather conditions to stabilise their income.

The Chief Secretary directed the department cornered to enrol more farmers under crop insurance through intensive awareness activities. Focus should be made to bring more non-loanee farmers to the fold of crop insurance. Development Commissioner Asit Kumar Tripathy, Agriculture Production Commissioner Gagan Kumar Dhal, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Saurabh Garg, Principal Secretary, Finance Ashok Kumar Meena, Secretary, Cooperation  Krishan Kumar, Registrar, Cooperative Societies Tribikram Pradhan, Director Agriculture Muthu Kumar along with representatives from insurance companies and State level Banker Coordination Committee participated in the discussions.