File picture: The State would be divided into 11 clusters to assess crop losses better.
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M_SRINATH
Farmers in Telangana would have access to crop insurance again after a gap of nearly five years. The Congress Government plans to reintroduce the comprehensive crop insurance scheme in the ensuing kharif season.
The State, which opted out of the PM Fasal Bima Yojana in 2020, has decided to rejoin the Central scheme.
Under the scheme, farmers would have to pay a 2 per cent premium for their kharif crops, and 1.5 per cent on their rabi crops, with the rest being shared by the State and Central governments. Their share would be about 5 per cent for commercial crops.
The State Government has decided to divide the State into 11 clusters to assess crop losses better.
Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao said the scheme would provide some relief to farmers for crop loss caused by weather changes, particularly unseasonal rains, excessive rainfall, hailstorms, and drought conditions.
Paddy, cotton, and maize are grown predominantly in 1.28 crore acres in the kharif season, including 67 lakh acres of paddy, 45 lakh acres of cotton and 5 lakh acres of maize. During the rabi season, crops are cultivated in 78 lakh acres, including paddy in 59 lakh acres, and maize in 9 lakh acres. The crop insurance scheme would cover about 98 per cent of the gross cropped area,
The Minister asked the officials to formulate a scheme to provide a yield-based insurance scheme for crops such as paddy, maize, red gram, black gram, soyabean, groundnut, and chickpea, and weather-based insurance cover for crops such as cotton, chilli, mango, oil palm, tomato and sweet lime.
The Minister also wanted officials to deploy technology to quickly assess yields, facilitating faster claims.
Cover for tenant farmers
Farmers, however, flagged certain shortcomings in the scheme. “About 20-25 per cent of the cropped area is handled by tenant farmers. When a crop fails, the insurance compensation pay-outs go to the land owner, and not the actual tiller. This is a major lacuna of the scheme,” Kanneganti Ravi of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, told businessline.
“The government should include tenant farmers iin the scheme and make the benefits accessible to them,” he said.
The All India Kisan Sabha leader S Malla Reddy said the disbursal of crop loans in the State had been erratic over the last few years due to the frequent disruption in repayments because of the faulty loan waiver schemes.
“This could result in delays in ascertaining the premium and the smooth roll-out of the crop insurance scheme,” he said.
He said the Government had promised to revive the scheme in 2024-25, but had failed to do so.
Published on April 24, 2025
