Mir Iqbal
SRINAGAR, May 14: The State Government has no insurance scheme for the farmers whose crops get frequently damaged due to the inclement and freak weather.
The continuous rainfall, gusty winds and hailstorm have caused huge damage to the crops including apple, pears, cherries, almonds and peach crop this year.
The affected farmers said they have less expectation of getting compensated as the Government has no insurance scheme to cover them.
“Had the scheme been implemented in the State, we would have been compensated after natural calamities. The bad weather has damaged our crops which devastated our hope, as most of our crops have been damaged and Government has no concern for farmers at the time of crises,” the farmers of Noorabad in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district said.
They demanded that the Government to come out, assess the losses of farmers and provide compensation on account of losses they have suffered due to torrential rains and hail storm.
Mohammad Akbar Mir, an orchardist from Shopian, said the inclement weather and hailstorm not only damaged a good percentage of their crops, but it would also affect the fruit quality.
President Apple Growers and Dealers Association, Shopian (AGDA), Mohammad Amin Mir, said that the Government has deliberately delayed implementations of CIS despite requests sent to concerned officials.
“The Government should explain the reasons of insensitivity shown in delaying the implementation of insurance scheme for poor farmers,” he rued.
Director Agriculture, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, admitted that at present there was no farmer-friendly insurance scheme available in the State. He said the department has drafted a proposal to include all the areas of State under the weather-based insurance scheme from this year to cover all the crops.
“We had some schemes but these were not beneficial for farmers, so we have drafted a new farmer-friendly insurance scheme from this year,” Shah said, adding, the Agriculture Department has covered saffron crop under the scheme, while as Horticulture Department has covered only apple crop.
The Director said under the proposed insurance scheme farmers need 12 percent premium per Kanal with fifty-percent from the department.
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