CHENNAI: Agriculture Minister MRK Panneerselvam on Sunday announced that the deadline for insuring samba/thaladi/pishanam paddy crop has been extended till November 30, following farmers’ requests due to rain-related delays and administrative work. The minister requested the farmers who have not yet insured their crops to register through common service centres, Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies or nationalised banks before the new deadline.
The earlier deadline for the 27 districts for insuring crops was November 15. The districts are: Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur, Madurai, Pudukkottai, Karur, Salem, Tiruppur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Tiruchy, Ariyalur, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Perambalur, Sivaganga, Cuddalore, Tiruvallur, and Erode.
Panneerselvam said that due to continuous rain in several districts leading to delays in Kuruvai harvesting and Samba transplanting, and because village administrative officers have been engaged in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, there was a delay in issuing acknowledgements. Also, since farmers requested an extension of the deadline for crop insurance, the Union government has approved the extension of the last date for insuring the above crops to November 30, based on the request made by the Tamil Nadu government.
Panneerselvam said so far, samba paddy has been cultivated over 26.25 lakh acres, and till date, 6.27 lakh farmers have insured samba paddy covering 15 lakh acres, which is 57% of the total area under cultivation. On the same date last year, crop insurance had been taken for 10 lakh acres of samba paddy. He also directed the agriculture department officials to reach out to farmers in their respective areas and expedite the process of enrolling them under the insurance scheme.