RAMANATHAPURAM: Farmers of Ramanathapuram on Tuesday alleged that several farmers in the district have not received the crop insurance benefits, though the officials state that the insurance coverage for crop damage in 2022, has been completely distributed. During the grama sabha meeting, the farmers requested action towards providing crop insurance coverage to all the farmers.
During the 2022 samba season, about 98,357 hectares of the cultivation area were affected due to irrigation woes. Following the enumeration reports, the state government had announced Ramanathapuram as a moderate drought-hit area earlier this year, and sanctioned over Rs 132 crore as drought relief for its farmers. Later, crop insurance was also announced for the farmers who lost their crops due to the drought. Agricultural officials from the district stated that both the drought relief and insurance amounts were distributed to the farmers in phases.
On the flip side, during the grama sabha meetings held in villages, including Ponnakkaneri and Theriruveli, farmers said they were not provided with crop insurance coverage for crop damage.
While speaking, M Gavaskar, a farmer, and organiser of the RS Mangalam and Thiruvadanai farmers association said, "Despite facing crop damage, several farmers in villages in Thiruvadanai and R S Mangalam have not received the crop insurance money yet. We have requested a detailed report from the department concerned to know the reason for not providing crop insurance money."
MSK Bakkianathan, president of Tamil Nadu Vaigai Irrigation Farmers Association, said, "The insurance money for the chilli crop damage that happened back in 2020 - 2021, due to heavy rainfall has not been provided to the farmers from Theriruveli, Thaliyarendhal, and Aathangkothankudi village till date. Now, the crop insurance for the samba crop damage in 2022 has also not been provided to several farmers in the district. Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) and HDFC insurance companies were the two firms with whom the farmers in Ramnad had insured their crops last season. When we check online using the registered numbers to know about the crop insurance disbursement, it says the payment is still pending. Farmers are left in distress over this issue."
He further alleged that officials are not responding to these issues, and said the officials have neither published the details about the average cultivation nor a detailed report about the crop damage that occurred in the areas. "Such information should be published to maintain transparency within the system and to help farmers know the status of various schemes and programmes online. The authorities must take action towards issuing crop insurance money to all eligible farmers in the district," Bakkianathan demanded.
He added that the farmers are planning to submit a petition against these issues, with the district collector later this week.