local MP Rabindra Jena on Tuesday proposed before the Union Agriculture Ministry to include betel vines in the items covered under the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and facilitate clusters so as to improve production and trade of betel leaf.
About 20 million people in India are engaged in production, processing, transportation and marketing of betel vine and Odisha is one of the major producers.
Jena said Odisha produces quality betel leaves which are exported to several other States, besides catering to the domestic need. As such if the betel vines are insured under the Central scheme, it would render immense help to the farmers, he maintained.
Although the Government provides funds under the National Horticultural Mission and Odisha has also launched a ‘Crop Specific Scheme’ for betel vine, the farmers enjoy no insurance cover, he said, underscoring the need for insuring the betel vines.
Rising input costs and risks due to erratic weather, cyclone and flood have made betel leaf cultivation unviable. The hard-pressed farmers have to shift to other means of livelihoods, he said further.
Narrating more on the woes of the farmers, the MP said trade of betel leaf suffered a serious setback because of neglect and apathy for years by the Government as from over 200 supply agents operating out of Jaleswar in 1990, their number had slashed to only 15 in 2011.
Consequently, the livelihood of the betel farmers in Jaleswar, Bhograi and Baliapal is at a stake, he pointed out.