THANJAVUR: Samba crop cultivation here, last year, sustained severe damage from unseasonal rains, leading to yield loss. Farmers affected by it awaited insurance claims under the Prime Minister crop insurance scheme. Six months have gone by, and the wait is still on, as only seven villages - out of the 856 engaged in samba cultivation in the district - were declared eligible for claims in an official announcement made this month.
During the last samba season, around 1.34 lakh farmers from the 856 villages insured their crop, mostly paddy, cultivated in around 3.5 lakh acres here, sources said. A claim amount of `480.6 crore for 37 districts was sanctioned last month.
Out of it, Thanjavur district was sanctioned Rs 36 lakh, while a total of Rs 94.56 crore was announced for neighbouring districts like Tiruvarur. More than that, only seven villages from Thanjavur were marked as eligible for claims. In stark contrast, a total of 298 villages were selected from Tiruvarur.
Alleging unduly delay in the issuance of insurance claims, farmers have had protested several times and emphasised on its issuance before Deepavali this year. V Veerasenan, a farmer from Ponnavarayankottai near Pattukkottai, told TNIE that officials many of the eiligible farmers in the district were not selected for claims even after inspections and field visits by Union government officials.
"A special team should be constituted to look into the matter," Veerasenan said. N V Kannan, the district secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, blamed heavy rains in January for damaging samba paddy crops then. "The farmers, who have been expecting insurance claims for the affected crops, are shocked as only seven villages were announced as eligible for claims.
The district administration should take steps to ensure the claims reach all the deserving farmers." An official of the agriculture department told TNIE, "Yield loss is calculated based on last five year's yield average. This method is called threshold yield. If the yield of the particular season is less then the threshold yield, claim will be awarded. We are awaiting the data compiled by by the insurance company for awarding claims. In case of errors, the issue would be taken up with the company."