Shivamogga MP questions need for weather-based crop insurance after meagre payouts to areca growers

B.Y. Raghavendra, Shivamogga MP, speaking at a meeting with officers of the Shivamogga District Administration, in Shivamogga on Thursday.

MP for Shivamogga, B.Y. Raghavendra, has questioned the necessity of the weather-based crop insurance scheme, saying areca growers of the district received only a meagre amount under it.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with officers at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Shivamogga on Thursday, Mr. Raghavendra said 1,18,431 areca growers had registered under the scheme, covering 53,848 acres. The total premium paid was nearly ₹174 crore, of which farmers contributed ₹34 crore and the State and Union governments contributing ₹70 crore each. However, the compensation paid to growers was only ₹143 crore, less than the premium itself, though the total sum assured was ₹689 crore, he said.

The insurance companies had saved about ₹31 crore from the premium amount, he said. “It looks like the scheme is meant to benefit the insurance companies, not the farmers. The companies and the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, which maintains the rain gauge stations whose records are essential to fix the insurance amount, seem to have joined hands to do injustice to farmers,” he alleged.

Questioning the purpose of the scheme, Mr. Raghavendra said that instead of collecting premium, the State government should have announced a relief for farmers who suffered losses due to adverse weather.

He said farmers would stage a protest against the injustice. “Last year, the insurance companies saved about ₹20 crore from the premium paid. This year, they have again saved about ₹31 crore. We demand that the insurance companies distribute the saved amount to farmers affected by adverse weather conditions,” he said.