The State and the Central governments make tall claims on the crop insurance policies. But the facts seem to be different. Not more than one-fourth of the more than 76 lakh farmers in the State are covered under it. In fact, the coverage is around one-fifth in recent past. Various reasons, including absentee landlordism and tenant farmers are cited for it.
Only 16.94 lakh to 20.42 lakh farmers are covered from 2011-12 to 2016-17. It was as low as 4.55 lakh during 2014-15, the year of debt redemption scheme. More strikingly, non-loanee farmers, who are covered under the insurance, are not more than 1.38 lakh. These disturbing numbers are not difficult to relate to the poor preparedness.
The agriculture department officials agree that the coverage is not on the expected lines. They point out that farmers in the delta — East, West, Krishna, and Guntur districts — show least interest to insure their crops. The situation is, however, encouraging in the Rayalaseema districts, they say.
AP Rythu Sangham State president Y. Kesava Rao says the farmers in the delta are not forthcoming to insure their crops. The absentee landlordism could be the main reason. The tenant farmers are high in East and West Godavari districts. They generally don’t get bank loans.
Hence, they show least interest in crop insurance. Also payouts do not reach farmers at the right time and in amounts commensurate with their losses. This is also one of the main reasons behind poor response, he feels.
The second problem is lack of awareness about the process.
With agriculture remaining at the mercy of the monsoons, the government should take measures such as paying the premium of poor farmers, he suggests.
The officials, however, say the farmers are aware of the facility.
Seema situation different
But taking a leap of faith that there would be rains and that their modest borewells would pump some water, they don’t opt for it. Also, the situation is different in the Rayalaseema districts. Sometimes, the claims would be higher than the actual area, says an official, who does not want to be quoted.
According to information, the area covered under insurance hovered between 6.39 lakh hectares in 2014-15 to 31.09 lakh hectares in 2012-13, highest in the last six years. The sum insured increased to ₹10,832 crore in 2016-17 from ₹6,764 crore. The premium subsidy paid ranged between ₹91.71 crore (2014-15) to 1,193.65 crore in 2011-12. The premium paid in 2016-17 stood at ₹747.26 crore. Close to 95 lakh farmers were covered under insurance since 2011-12 to 2016-17. And, 17.33 lakh farmers were benefited between 2011-12 and 2015-16, official source say.
The NAIS, MNAIS and Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) were implemented during 2011-12 through 2015-16. These schemes, however, now have been replaced with the new Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from the 2016 kharif season. Paddy, jowar, bajra, maize, blackgram, greengram, redgram, groundnut, sunflower, castor, sugarcane(plant), sugarcane (ratoon), cotton, chillies, turmeric and korra, tomato, oil palm and sweet lime, crops are covered under the PMFBY.
