Crop-loss relief should also cover input cost for next season: CSE

A study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) here has advocated a more meaningful system to assess relief for farmers to cover both crop loss and input cost for the next season.

It advocates a good crop insurance product, one which is flexible, has fast payouts and follows a transparent and modern process of damage assessment.

In a report issued on Thursday, titled ‘Livid Anomaly’, on the unseasonal rain and hail that damaged large tracts of the standing rabi crop in the 2015 season, CSE said it estimated the total economic loss at Rs 20,453 crore.

It said the decline in production meant we might have to import a million tonnes of wheat in 2015-16, highest in the eight years.

The report blamed insufficient crop insurance, old and traditional methods of estimation and poor determination of compensation as being among the factors which aggravate farmers’ distress at natural calamities.

Only a fifth of the country's farmers have access to insurance. In a big state like UP, it is barely 3.5 per cent. The report gives reasons for the low penetration.

On compensation for loss, it said relief should be provided to all farmers irrespective of the extent of damage, as against the current practice of providing it only if crop loss is more than 33 per cent. And, relief provided by central and state governments should be properly reconciled.

“Sates should be judicious in declaring an extreme weather event,” the report said.

“We will get more extreme weather events but we don’t have proper forecasting systems,” said CSE Director Sunita Narain.

Union agriculture secretary Shiraz Hussain, part of the panel which released the report, said the Centre would come out with a new crop insurance product in the next two weeks that will guarantee a low premium payment for farmers.