Govt. mulling over having its own crop insurance scheme

Karnataka: Bengaluru: 05/10/2018: Minister for Agriculture N H Shivashankara Reddy and Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Krishna Byre Gowda at Curtain Raiser of Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019 on October 05, 2018. Photo: V Sreenivasa Murthy

In the light of problems farmers are facing with the current insurance scheme, the State government is mulling over having its own crop insurance scheme for farmers in the State on the lines of Bihar, Agriculture Minister N.H. Shivashankara Reddy said on Friday.

“We are considering our own crop insurance scheme as current parameters for receiving insurance are rigid and claim settlement is getting delayed. There is mismatch in entries. We can fix our own criteria if we have a separate insurance scheme,” the Minister told presspersons here.

Claims pending

“Some of the claims of 2016–17 are still pending in the State,” he said, and added that Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana parameters to determine crop loss were complicated.

As many as 25 crops in the State are covered by insurance. According to him, the number of registration for crop insurance came down to 13 lakh in 2018 kharif as against 17 lakh during 2017 kharif. “The government is apprehensive that the current policy is not farmer friendly,” Mr. Reddy said.