Tamil Nadu   

Onion, banana ‘notified crops’

Tirupur: Farmers gearing up to harvest onion in Perumanallur and Tirupur South firkas and those getting ready to reap banana in Tirupur North and Perumanallur firkas during the Rabi season ending March 31 have now an occasion to cheer.

The reason: the Department of Horticulture has declared onion and banana as ‘notified crops’ for these selected firkas enabling the respective farmers to obtain a ‘subsidised insurance cover’ for their crops extended under National Agricultural Insurance Scheme. An acre of banana can be insured for Rs. 2,17,928 with the premium pegged at 10.7 per cent of the value.

Similarly, onion raised on an acre can be insured for Rs. 37,232 for a premium at the rate of 5.75 per cent.

Since the package is subsidised by the government, small and marginal farmers have to pay only 45 per cent of the premium rates computed for the two crops while the other farmers have to pay 50 per cent of the premium.

The farmers who wished to come under the ambit of insurance coverage should have an account in either a nationalised, cooperative or regional rural bank where they should remit the premium to insure their crops, before January 15.

P. Santhanakrishnan, assistant director of Horticulture, told The Hindu that though payment of premium looks an extra financial burden for a farmer, the insurance cover would turn out to be immensely beneficial to them if they had to encounter damages to their crops owing to natural calamities.

He cited the heavy losses suffered by 33 banana farmers in Ettiveerampalayam, Merkupathy, Thoravallur and Perumanallur villages under Tirupur block to the tune of Rs. 4.78 lakh, when a total of 8,069 banana plants raised by them were destroyed in the rain and wind that hit the region on May 13 this year.

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