Centre’s agriculture income insurance scheme for minimum income of farmers from next year

Bhopal: Union Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that Central Government will introduce new Agriculture Income Insurance Scheme from next year under which farmers’ minimum income will be ensured. He said that the Central Government is committed to ensuring prosperity of villages, poor and farmers. Shri Singh was addressing concluding function of 2-day National Conference on Crop Insurance here today. The seminar was held on the initiative of Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan to frame a new crop insurance policy in Madhya Pradesh.

The Union Minister while referring to unprecedented progress of Madhya Pradesh in agriculture sector said that other states should emulate Madhya Pradesh. He said that states have important role in success of farmer-oriented schemes of Central Government. Madhya Pradesh has done exceedingly well in this direction. He said that Madhya Pradesh used budget in a better way in the interest of farmers by increasing irrigation capacity in the state. He said that Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have done unprecedented work to increase irrigation capacity.

Shri Singh said that previous Central government had done nothing towards soil health management. The present Central Government has done historic work to make available Soil Health Cards to farmers. The previous government had provided only Rs. 78 crore whereas Central government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Singh Modi has allocated Rs. 568 crore for this.

The Union Minister said that land of farmers will not be acquired. Farmers will be given Rs. 50 thousand per hectare for organic farming. He said that for providing 100 percent relief to farmers in the event of natural calamities, quantum of loss has been reduced from 55 percent to 33 percent for assessing crop loss.

Chief Minister Shri Chouhan said that as a pilot project, Assured Agriculture Income Scheme for farmers will be introduced in next Rabi season.

The Chief Minister said that due to contribution of agriculture sector, Madhya Pradesh did not face shortage of revenue even in the days of recession and the state maintained double digit economic growth rate. Shri Chouhan said that agriculture sector should be saved if country’s economy has to be saved. He said that farming and farmers can be saved by providing irrigation facilities, timely supply of seeds and fertilisers, increasing minimum support price for procurement of agriculture produce and decreasing cost of farming. In the state, farmers have been provided assistance worth Rs. 12 thousand during last financial year.

Referring to format of new crop insurance policy, the Chief Minister said that it should benefit farmers and not the insurance companies or banks. Crop insurance policy should be farmer centric since crops are life of farmers. He said that crop insurance policy should be simple so that farmers can understand it easily, take full advantage of it and pay premium without any difficulty. He said that previous insurance policies were neither in the interest of farmers nor lucrative. They could not meet their objectives since the policies were not effective.

The Chief Minister said that crop insurance should be based on revenue model and not produce-based since apart from loss due to weather vagaries, farmers also suffer loss due to fall in food grains’ prices. He said that the new crop insurance policy should be such that farmers remain unaffected even when prices of crops fall in the market. They should get minimum guaranteed income. Premium should be less and its formula simple. It should also be considered to appoint rural youths as insurance agents for cent percent coverage of crop insurance so that they can get employment at local level and all farmers are also insured.

Shri Chouhan said that in the crop insurance scheme to be introduced from Kharif 2015 in Madhya Pradesh, remote sensing will be used for crop cutting experiment to assess crops loss. Automated weather stations will be set up. He said that even if a farmer does not make claim for crop insurance, he must get a minimum incentive amount. For this, Central and State governments may jointly evolve a model. Inception of a Farmers Welfare Fund should also be considered to ensure guaranteed income to farmers. It would connect government directly with farmers. For this Central and state governments may consider providing joint budget. Agriculture Minister Shri Gaurishankar Bisen said that crop insurance scheme should be simple, effective and result-oriented. He said that separate agriculture strategies should be chalked out for different climate zones as per their specific requirements. He said that crop insurance scheme of Madhya Pradesh will be a guiding factor for country.

Secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sangathan Shri Dinesh Kulkarni said that procurement system of Madhya Pradesh should be replicated in entire country. He said that constitution of a commission should also be considered to ensure guaranteed income to farmers.

Principal Secretary Agriculture Dr. Rajesh Rajora informed about recommendations of the conference. He discussed proposed draft of crop insurance policy and informed about suggestion given by experts of agriculture and insurance sectors.

Animal Husbandry Minister Sushri Kusum Mahdele, Revenue Minister Shri Rampal Singh, former Agriculture Minister Dr. Ram Krishna Kusmaria and agriculture scientists were present. Mementoes were presented to the guests. Agriculture Production Commissioner Shri R.K. Swai proposed a vote of thanks.