THANJAVUR/TIRUVARUR: With the July 31 cut-off date fixed by the Union government to insure Kharif crops lapsing with the State government not initiating any steps to help the Cauvery delta farmers insure their Kuruvai paddy for the second consecutive year, the latter have been staring at a bleak future.
They want the government to reveal its plans to safeguard them in the event of crop damage and loss of yield from natural calamities. Kuruvai paddy in the State has been covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) since the inception of the scheme in 2016.
However, the crop was not covered under the Union government scheme last year. This year also, despite repeated requests from farmers, the cut-off date of July 31 for insuring Kuruvai crop under the scheme was given a go-by. Though farmers demanded to notify the scheme and extend the cut-off date to August 31, official sources told TNIE that there is no possibility for such an announcement.
Sources pointed out the harvest of early Kuruvai crop has already commenced. This comes despite the Kuruvai paddy acreage in Thanjavur district this year touching 70,000 hectares, higher than last year's coverage at 66,483 hectares, which by itself is a 48-year high. Meanwhile, farmers point out that even though there was no insurance coverage last year, the State government had announced damage relief for Kuruvai paddy from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).
"This year besides the lack of insurance coverage, the government is yet to announce whether it would support farmers in case of damage to crops", rued K Thangamani, a farmer from Budalur. He pointed out how due to the recent rains the standing crops are susceptible to pest attack. Sami Natarajan, the State secretary of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, asserted that the non-coverage of Kuruvai paddy under insurance scheme is the failure of the State government.
He pointed out how the issue was raised even when he along with the office bearers of the association met the chief minister on July 11. "We again wrote to the government on July 29 to fix any company which is ready to extend the cut-off date for insurance," he said, adding that there has, however, been no reply to it. If there was a problem with PMFBY, the State government itself could formulate a crop insurance scheme as done by others like Gujarat and Rajasthan, Natarajan added.
Echoing this, P Sukumar of Tirupoonthuruthi said, "The State government itself could launch an insurance scheme by collecting a nominal premium. Otherwise as is being done in the case of the chief minister's health insurance scheme, the government itself could pay the premium for the farmers." With incessant rains lashing the delta region, the farmers fear an adverse impact on Kuruvai paddy, he added.
While official sources said in the event of crop damage, compensation will be awarded from the SDRF, even when it is not announced by the government, farmers point out such a relief would be meagre compared to insurance claims.
They point out the compensation under the SDRF is only `8,000 per acre whereas the sum assured by insurance companies in the last instance was `34,500 per acre. Moreover, under insurance scheme losses in the range of even 2% will be compensated whereas under SDRF, compensation will be released only if the crop damage is more than 33%, they added.