With the district staring at another possible drought owing to deficient rainfall, the number of farmers applying for crop insurance has gone up substantially. Farmers reason that if they face drought this year too, at least insurance would help tide them over.
According to B. Manjunath, Joint Director, Agriculture Department, already around 60,000 farmers in the district have applied for insurance this kharif season, which is far higher when compared to last year.
“Last kharif season, only around 16,000 farmers applied for insurance. But, the figure has touched 60,000 this year. The only reason for this sudden increase is the fear of losing crop to drought,” he said.
The official said last year not many farmers showed interest in applying for crop insurance hoping that they would get a good monsoon and a better yield. “Looking at last year’s condition, the farmers don’t wish to take a chance ... hence, they have voluntarily come forward to apply for the insurance,” Mr. Manjunath said. They have applied for insurance at 145 centres opened across the district by the government.
He said though the department has been undertaking extensive awareness programmes on crop insurance to make sure that more farmers apply, this year most of them have come forward voluntarily.
The insurance covers agriculture crops such as toor, green gram, maize, groundnut, and sunflower.
“In case of loss owing to a natural calamity such as flood or drought, the farmers can get compensation of up to 90%, which comes as a great relief to farmers,” he said. The official hoped that if this awareness continues, then in the coming days, more farmers would apply given the unpredictable and volatile climatic conditions.
Meanwhile, the farmers complained that while the 145 centres were cooperative, the banks did not extend the same kind of cooperation.
