Samba paddy cultivation is gaining momentum in the district with farmers busy raising nurseries and transplanting the crop.
Officials of Agriculture Department are confident of a good season this year and expect about 50,000 hectares to be covered under samba paddy.
They were also hoping to achieve the food grain production target of 4.07 lakh tonnes for the year.
According to the department, samba paddy has been raised on about 20,900 hectares so far in the district. Nurseries have been raised on another 1,759 hectares.
Farmers too are hopeful of a good season, though there are complaints that the water has not reached the tail end areas of some of the irrigation canals.
“We are reasonably confident of a good samba crop this year in Tiruchi district. Besides, the release of water from Mettur dam, the recent spells of rain have helped improve the groundwater table. During December there will be some moisture in the air too. We hope to have a good harvest, at least in the canal irrigated areas,” said N. Veerasekaran, coordinator, Ayyan Vaical Pasantharar Sangam.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department has launched a campaign to sensitise farmers to insure their crop under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Insuring the crop would give farmers the confidence and hope that they would be compensated if their crop was damaged due to natural calamities, officials point out.
Under the initiative, awareness and publicity campaign has been taken up across the district and it would go on till November 10.
Department officials point out that the premium to be paid by the farmers is highly subsidised under the scheme. The total premium payable for an acre of paddy is ₹3,974. However, the farmers contribution is just 1.5% of the sum insured (₹26,850) and hence the farmers need to pay ₹403 per acre and the rest of the amount will be borne by the Government.
The cut-off date for insuring samba paddy crop is November 30 and the cut-off date for being eligible for making claims under the ‘prevented sowing’ category is October 20, officials said.
This year, crop insurance can be done in 345 notified revenue villages for all notified crops at firka level or revenue village level in the district.
All farmers who take crop loans will be covered under the scheme compulsorily. Non loanee farmers who wish to enrol under PMFBY scheme can contact the agents of the Agricultural Insurance Company of India or the common service centres or primary agricultural cooperative credit societies or any nationalised banks to insure their crop, officials said.
