The Agriculture Department has urged farmers, who usually cultivate samba paddy in the district, to go in for crop insurance so as to be eligible to get compensation under the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme.
Farmers, who usually cultivate samba paddy, were advised to pay the premium even if they were not able to take up cultivation for want of water for irrigation as they can claim compensation under the “prevented / failed sowing” clause.
Farmers of the notified revenue villages are assured of 25% of the sum insured as claim amount if the risks are declared by District Level Monitoring Committee. This is an add-on coverage, under which the risk is additionally covered besides the yield-based loss, said S. Esther Premakumari, Assistant Director of Agriculture (Crop Insurance), speaking at the monthly Farmers Grievances meeting here on Friday.
Farmers would be eligible to get if 75% of the normal cultivable area remained unsown for various reasons in a notified revenue village. Farmers who have paid the premium of ₹560.20 an acre would be able to get a compensation of ₹9,336 an acre under the clause. Farmers can enrol themselves by furnishing a “sowing certificate” issued by the VAO instead of the adangal. Compensation can be claimed for failed sowing too if the crop gets withered within a month of planting. The last date for payment of premium for paddy was November 15, she said.
Collector M. Pradeep Kumar urged farmers to utilise the add-on coverage without fail. They could pay the premium through the e-Seva centres, primary agricultural cooperative societies or nationalised banks.
Speaking at the meeting, a cross-section of farmers expressed concern over samba paddy cultivation being affected due to lack of water for irrigation as Karnataka had not released Tamil Nadu’s share of water.
Ayilai Siva Suriyan, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, called upon the State government to declare the delta district as drought hit and claim adequate relief from the Union government to be disbursed to farmers.
P. Viswanathan, president, Tamil Nadu Tank and River Irrigation Farmers’ Association, urged the State government to sanction ₹40,000 an acre as compensation to farmers who were not able to take up samba cultivation as release of water for irrigation from the Mettur reservoir has been suspended.
Bharthiya Kisan Sangam State secretary N. Veerasekaran appealed to officials of Agriculture and Horticulture departments to organise meetings between farmers and experts to advise them on the alternative crops that can be raised utilising the available water under the present circumstances.
To a question, Mr. Pradeep Kumar said that the storage in the majority of 1,300-odd tanks in the district was less than 25% of their capacity. Only the tanks in Thuraiyur region had received good inflows so far, he added.
