Agrarian distress burning most parts of the country may also rock Jharkhand in the times to come since the State has performed poorly on the front of crop insurance. The figures related to the farmers covered under renovated Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) have placed it at the lowest position in terms of securing rabi crops and not much higher for kharif either.
latest figures in this regard suggest that only 54,000 odd peasants have been covered under the crop insurance scheme launched by the Centre with greater degree of benefits involved, whereas for kharif the number could reach only to 8.28 lakh when the year ended for 2016-17 season.
The coverage is dismal when placed before the fact that for over 80 per cent of rural population agriculture is their mainstay. Plight of the farm community turns even graver when percentage of irrigated land in the State, out of 38 lakh hectares of cultivable area, comes down to not more than 12 per cent. Defending the numbers though, the Government says that lesser farmers opting for rabi crops is the reason behind.
“We in Jharkhand do not have many farmers raising rabi crops. It is not more than 20 per cent of the total farmers. The situation is relatively better for kharif crops,” said Director of State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (SAMETI) Ajay Kumar Singh who went on adding that farmers with assured irrigation only go for rabi crops and do not opt for crop insurance since lesser risk is involved.
Moreover, this has placed the State at the bottom of the list, worse than even Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and most of the southern states, which are similar in size or geographical condition than Jharkhand or predominantly kharif producing provinces.
Nevertheless, the figure related to kharif is also not so good as only 8.28 lakh farmers have opted for crop insurance during last year that once again brings the State behind neighbouring Bihar, not much cultivable Gujarat, Rajasthan and Odisha.
“The figures are not satisfying and we have raised the target to cover 25 lakh farmers during this year, including both rabi and kharif. Process for that has been started,” said the Director.
Although insiders in the Department suggest that the scheme has also seen some poor execution which may have distracted the farmers.
“There are good numbers of claims pending for settlement at various levels. We have been getting instructions from the Chief Secretary level to settle the claims in a speedy manner. Unless the claims are settled timely, the farmers would feel PMFBY discouraging for them,” said a senior official in Agriculture and Cooperative Department.
This apart, there is also a feeling that several varieties of crops have still not been listed to be covered under the scheme in the State. Gram, Maize, Tur along with predominantly paddy only are eligible to be insured which is another negating factor for the farmers of Jharkhand. Often dependent on the rain God, the State has witnessed some farmers’ suicide cases in recent times perceived as because of the fatal combination of farm debt and crop damage.
Important to note that the Centre through the ambitious scheme vows to raise coverage from the present level of about 30 per cent of cropped area in 2016-17 to 50 per cent over the next two years nationally. Under PMFBY, a farmer’s premium has been kept lower between 1.5-2 per cent for food grains and oilseed crops and up to 5 per cent for horticultural and cotton crops.