ON Insurance radar

Ranchi, April 29: Over 11 lakh farmers across the state would be covered under the crop insurance scheme in the ensuing kharif season.

The State Level Consultative Committee for Crop Insurance (SLCCCI) today decided that the benefit of insurance would be extended in paddy and maize crops to farmers both in the loanee and non-loanee categories. In Jharkhand, the number of non-loanee farmers is much higher than their loanee counterparts.

The important meeting as far as agrarian economy of the state is concerned was chaired by Sheila Kisku Rapaz, the secretary of the state co-operative department, the nodal agency for the crop insurance scheme.

The meeting held here was attended by B.M. Sharma, the deputy general manager of Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited (AICIL), S.N. Basu, the regional manager of AICIL, and officials of the state co-operative and statistics department.

“Overall figures of the loanee and non-loanee farmers covered under the crop insurance scheme decreased from 11 lakh in the 2006 kharif season to just over 6.5 lakh in 2007 kharif season. It was a disturbing trend. But now the authorities have decided to work overtime to ensure that over 11 lakh farmers get covered under the scheme in the 2008 kharif season,” said Basu.

The exact premium for per hectare/acre of land for the individual crop variety is yet to be decided but the authorities conceded that it would remain the almost same as in the last year.

The authorities today also decided to ensure that the notification for the scheme would be issued at the earliest to facilitate coverage of maximum number of non-loanee farmers. Kharif season officially starts from April 1 and extends up to September 31 every year.

The insurance policy is extended by a month beyond the September 31 deadline for the farmers under the loanee category.