The Hindu Business Line : Bengal may have a narrow escape on agri front

West Bengal has narrowly escaped a major disaster on agricultural front. The harvesting of rabi crops was almost over before the cyclone Aila had hit the State on May 25.

The harvesting of boro paddy was over in the beginning of May, while that of potato, an important cash crop of the region, in February. Only a few oilseeds such as sesame are yet to be harvested.

Harvesting was due in June in some of the other paddy growing Bankura, Purulia, and Burdwan, but these districts were not hit hard.

According to the Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics (BAES) under the Development and Planning Department of the State Government, the agricultural yield survey, called the ‘crop cutting experiment’, had already been conducted in some of the affected areas such as North and South 24 Parganas, Midnapore, Hooghly and Howrah.

Yield survey awaited

“The impact of the cyclone on the yield will be clear after the crop cutting experiment is concluded by August 15,” Mr Abhijit Bal, Deputy Director, Agriculture, BAES, told Business Line.

The reports of the damages on crop yield were expected to be available by the middle of June, he pointed out.

While there might not be much difference in the current season’s yield vis-À-vis the last year’s threshold benchmark , the productivity for the coming kharif and rabi seasons might be affected as a number of areas had been rendered unsuitable for growing crops by the cyclone and subsequent floods, according to Mr Dasarathi Singh, Regional Manager of the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd (AIC), a public sector undertaking (earlier a part of General Insurance Corporation of India), formed in 2003 and responsible for implementing the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme. Under the scheme, farmers taking crop loans (for notified crops such as paddy, wheat, cereals, oilseeds and certain cash crops) from banks get a compulsory insurance cover for any drop in yield due to unforeseen disaster.

The non-loanee farmers, also eligible for the scheme, would rarely take the insurance cover, according to Mr Singh.

Non-loanees

“We will work in tandem with the BAES to ensure that the areas affected by the cyclone are also included in the sample survey; so that a loss, if any, can be compensated,” he said, pointing out that a few districts of South 24 Parganas, particularly the Sunerbans area, might lose out on a significant claim, as most of its farmers were non-loanees not covered under the scheme.

In the current rabi season, the total sum insured under the scheme in West Bengal is Rs 875 crore.

The gross premium collected during the period was Rs 36.27 crore, 90 per cent of which was paid by the farmers, while the balance was to be paid in equal proportions as subsidy by the Centre and the State Government.

A total of 5,59,089 farmers were covered in the scheme during the period.

However, according to NGOs engaged in relief work in the flooded areas, the crops stored after harvesting had been destroyed in many regions. Destruction of stored crops is not covered under the national insurance scheme.

More Stories on : Natural Calamities | Rice | West Bengal

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