Page 51 - 31MAR2019E

About 4.31 lakh agriculture
Himachal farmers are
credit linked. There
was great enthusiasm
cause in hilly areas internet connec- (4 ha-10ha) having 3.41 per cent and
tivity and speed are major issues. The among farmers when large farmers (above 10 ha) having 0.48
disruptions in connectivity and fluc- PMFBY was launched per cent of land holdings in the state.
tuations in speed of internet connec- The state has a high literacy rate of
tion hamper the process of uploading but it started weaning 83.78 per cent and farmers are aware
the data. soon when they as compared to many other states of
This leads to delays and farmers are India. But as far as the fruits of PMFBY
unable to get the compensation, told a realised that the are concerned, these have not been
banker. Besides this, uploading data is scheme was launched equally distributed in the state. Neki
time consuming. The data is compiled Ram, a marginal farmer from district
by the insurance companies and pro- without the necessary Solan lamented that the farmers get
vided to banks. The respective banks groundwork insurance cover in the villages where
have to upload it on their portal. Bank the number of beneficiaries is small. In
officials are not trained in this and face bigger villages, with larger number of
technical glitches. and vegetables. Apple is grown exten- beneficiaries, the insurance companies
The topography of hilly area also sively in mid, high and cold dry zones refrain from providing benefit to farm-
restricts the scope of crop insurance and is high susceptible to fluctuations ers on various technical grounds.
as hail may occur on one hill destroy- in weather. In Shivalik hills, wheat, The farmers in Himachal have their
ing the entire crop while the other hill maize paddy, gram and potatoes are own set of problems which are different
in the same village may remain com- grown. This region has 30 per cent of from those being faced by their peers
pletely unaffected by it. Since village/ the total geographical area of the state. in other parts of India. The labour cost
block is the unit reckoned for the insur- The farmers in this region informed in the last few years has escalated to
ance, farmers incur different degrees that they lose crops to stray cattle and 400- 600 a day for digging, plucking
of losses and remain ineligible for the do not get indemnity for this. and other jobs. The apple growers have
insurance claim. The mid-hills have 10 per cent and to resort to anti-hail nets to save the
An apple grower and former Vice high hills have 25 per cent of the total crop from hail storms. The new varie-
Chairman of HPMC, Prakash Thakur geographical area of the state. The Cold ties of apples entail more expenditure
told that farmers have to pay an extra Dry zone covers 35 per cent of the total in the form of use of fungicides. The
premium for insurance against hail- geographical area of the state. In some farm gate prices of most of the horti-
storm. The apple orchards are spread in parts natural factors like climate and in culture crops have remained stagnant
an area of 2000-3000 feet in hilly areas. others man-made factors have neces- whereas the retail prices have sky-
The monitoring stations are sparsely sitated the need of reimbursement for rocketed in the last few years. Thus, the
located, thus unable to give coverage crop loss of farmers but the farmers schemes like PMFBY need to be execut-
to all those who are insured. Moreover, do not get what is intended for them. ed with right intention and clear direc-
the insurance players install these sta- The farmers can benefit a lot from crop tion to boost the income of farmers of
tions according to their own suitability. insurance if they are provided what this hill state.
The officials of insurance companies they are actually entitled to.
are not accessible. So this scheme has The landscape of Himachal like any Impact of winter
lost its sheen in a short period. other state of India is dominated by the The prolonged winter this year may
Himachal Pradesh is divided into marginal landholdings (below 1 hec- not be good for vegetables grown in
four agro-climatic zones; (i) Shivalik tare). About 68.17 per cent of farmers fall Shivalik hills and mid-hills but is con-
hills, (ii) Mid hills, (iii) High hills and (iv) in this category. Small farmers (1ha-2ha) ducive for better apple crop. According
Cold Dry zone. The major crops grown own 18.7 per cent of total landholdings, to Prakash Thakur, an apple grower
are apple, wheat, barley, seed potato, followed by Semi-medium (2 ha-4ha) near Shimla, the longer duration of
peas, black gram, ginger, beans, maize who own 9 per cent, medium farmers snow fall has helped meet the chilling
requirement for apple crop and locked
in adequate moisture. If the weather
Year Farmers Covered Amount Disbursed (In Rs) remains cold during the flowering it
may be harmful but that is unlikely.
2016-17 95287 36,62,29,131 At the same time, vegetable grow-
ers are worried as they may lose crop if
2017-18 161524 49,93,69,125 the cold wave continues in the state for
longer time.
2018-19 46205 (scheme under progress) N.A. (provision)
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