CENTRE SEEKS CO-OPERATION OF STATES
IN IMPLEMENTING FARM INCOME INSURANCE PROGRAMME
The
Centre has sought the co-operation of the States in implementing
the proposed Farm Income Insurance Programme (FIIP). Addressing
a meeting of the concerned District Collectors and State Agriculture
Secretaries here yesterday evening to discuss the implementation
of the pilot project, the Union Agriculture Minister, Shri Rajnath
Singh said that the new Programme was conceived, as the farmers
could not derive the desired benefit from the National Agricultural
Insurance Scheme (NAIS). The farmers bear the risk on both the
production and price fronts, but the NAIS provides relief in the
case of yield fluctuations only. The Minister said that the FIIP
would target both the critical components of the farmer’s income,
namely yield and price through a single policy instrument. The
pilot project is being taken up during the Rabi 2003-04 season
in 18 districts of 16 States for wheat and rice.
The districts in
which wheat will be taken up under the pilot project are Buxar
in Bihar, Banaskantha in Gujarat, Rewari in Haryana, Hamirpur
in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu in Jammu & Kashmir, Hazaribagh
in Jharkhand,, Parbhani in Maharashtra, Sangrur in Punjab, Mirzapur,
Faizabad and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Udham Singh Nagar in
Uttaranchal. The districts in which paddy will be taken up under
the pilot project are Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, Kamrup in Assam,
Mysore in Karanataka, Cuttack in Orissa, Madurai in Tamil Nadu
and Bardwan in West Bengal.
Under the Programme,
a farmer’s production and price risk for the crop produced by
him would be protected by ensuring the minimum guaranteed income,
determined by using the average yield of last seven years and
MSP. If the actual income falls short of the guaranteed income,
the farmer would be eligible for a compensation to the extent
of indemnity from the Agricultural Insurance Company. An area
approach as in the NAIS would be used for actual yield and price
measurement of the insured crop. A premium subsidy of 75% is proposed
to be given in case of small and marginal farmers and 50% for
other farmers. The subsidy for the pilot project will be entirely
borne by the Centre. The Programme as well as the pilot project
would be implemented by the Agriculture Insurance Company of India.
Participating in
the discussion, representatives of the States generally welcomed
the Programme and expressed the view that it would contribute
significantly to agricultural growth. Some representatives offered
suggestions on inclusion of particular crops, determination of
MSP and calculation of the average yield. The representatives
also sought clarifications on various operational aspects of the
Programme.
Responding to
the suggestions and observations made at the meeting, Shri Rajnath
Singh said that the Programme would be fine tuned on the basis
of outcome of the pilot project before it is extended to other
States and crops.
Among others,
representatives of the NABARD, the Agricultural Insurance Company
of India and the National Cooperative Development Corporation
took part in the meeting.
