Weather insurance to aid farmers

Farmers will no longer have to wait endlessly for claiming their payments from the government.

A weather-based crop insurance scheme (WBCIS) is being launched in various states as a pilot project through the state-owned Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC), and two private insurers, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Iffco-Tokio General Insurance.

The scheme provides insurance protection against potential crop losses due to adverse deviations in rainfall, frost, heat, wind speed, relative humidity and various weather factors that have an impact on crop productivity.

Weather risks are covered from sowing to maturity of the crop and the sum insured is equivalent to the cost of cultivation. The claims to farmers will be paid within 45 days from the end of the risk period. The risk period for Kharif season starts from April and ends in September, while for Rabi, the risk period starts from November.

The state and central governments will subsidise the premium 50:50 for WBCIS. Farmers will have to pay 2.5-3 per cent of the premium for Kharif (food and oilseed crops) and 1.5-2 per cent for crops in rabi season. The claims will be fully paid by AIC.

Speaking about the advantages of WBCIS, AIC chairman, M Parshad said, "WBCIS is a more transparent scheme compared to the present National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. The premium for WBCIS is subsidised by the government which we receive in advance. Secondly, weather data, which is the basic determinant in paying a claim, can be processed real time and there is no time lag. Thirdly, there is no human intervention as the data is recorded automatically."

For launching the pilot for Rabi season, the insurer has completed discussions with seven state governments and have identified 250 locations and six crops. The states are: Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab.

The subisdy for the entire year is Rs 100 crore. The estimated sum insured is around Rs 1500 crore. The pilot for kharif has been completed in Karnataka. Out of the total 770 hoblis, 70 hoblis were covered for weather-based deficiency and excess rainfall.