States will get support to come out with their own respective farm income-based crop insurance schemes under the yet to be launched National Crop Income Insurance Scheme (NCIIS) of the central government.

The agriculture ministry on Tuesday took this decision, keeping in view ground realities of different states. The move will help the states to factor in local climatic conditions, topography and soil types which determine productivity and farm income.

"We have decided to allow state governments to come up with their own schemes depending upon their needs and local climatic conditions. In that case, the new NCIIS would not be taken up by those states. Such states will, however, implement their own schemes with financial support from the Centre," said Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.

The decision was taken after some states like Haryana, Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu expressed the need to have separate crop income insurance for different states during a consultation meeting with Singh and top officials of the ministry on the draft NCIIS. The new proposed scheme aims to protect farmers against both yield loss and income loss.

Tamil Nadu, in fact, opposed the Centre's proposed NCIIS, saying it will not benefit farmers in vulnerable and disaster-prone areas.

Admitting to states' concerns, Singh said the states' suggestion made sense and that's why the ministry took the decision, allowing the states to come out with their own schemes.

"The government would come out with the details of the national scheme within the remaining two months of this financial year. Pilot projects of the new scheme would subsequently be launched in the new fiscal", said the agriculture minister.

He said the ministry would set up a committee in the next couple of days to vet other suggestions made by states and stakeholders. Their suggestion would be incorporated in the new national scheme, he added.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com