|
| Low premium insurance for aquaculture on cards |
| B Krishna Mohan / Chennai/ Hyderabad Nov 13, 2009, 00:20 IST |
|
The Centre is working out modalities with insurance companies to introduce an insurance cover for fish and shrimp stocks at a lower premium on the lines of agriculture and livestock insurance.
Currently, the insurance premium for aquaculture is between 4.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent of the sum insured. Also, the present insurance schemes cover only inland fisheries and not brackish water culture. However, it is only 2.5 per cent for agriculture farmers. The small and marginal agricultural farmers get a ten per cent subsidy on premium, which is equally shared between the Centre and respective states.
“It is important to fix premium rates for the aquaculture sector on a par with agriculture to encourage farmers to enhance fish production,” said P Krishnaiah, chief executive officer of the National Fisheries Development Board.
NFDB recently convened a meeting with about dozen insurers in this regard. A committee will be formed to take this issue forward. The shrimp and fish cultivators have been demanding lower premium on insurance for long.
Speaking to Business Standard, he said aquaculture suffered serious setbacks due to persistent disease outbreaks, high input costs of power, feed and chemicals and low price realisation in the recent years. These factors made farming operations uneconomical and about 50 per cent of the area developed for coastal aquaculture has been abandoned resulting in a loss of livelihood to about 2 million people over the years.
The insurance companies widely supported the aquaculture sector in its boom time in the mid 90s. However, with uncontrollable disease outbreaks in aqua farms and lack of knowledge on incidence and control mechanism of the disease, they have stopped promoting aquaculture insurance services. The risks are often considered higher than other segments and therefore the premium is high, he said.
The proposed insurance scheme will ensure better credit flow to aquaculture farmers, promote good farming practices and accountability on part of the farmers, focus on biosafety norms and foster community farming. Small and marginal farmers account for 90 per cent of the fishing community.
“There is a good opportunity for insurance as 6.6 million hectare including coastal and inland waters are available for aquaculture with a resource potential of 4.5 million tonne and employment generation to 14 million people,” he said. The effort will be to protect farmers against losses suffered by them due to crop failure on account of drought, flood, hailstorm, cyclone, pest and diseases to restore their creditworthiness for the ensuing crop season.
At present, only 2.8 million hectare is under aquaculture and six million people depend on it for livelihood. Andhra Pradesh accounts for 51 per cent of the total farming area and 50 per cent of the total production.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
