Farmers demand immediate government intervention to compensate for their losses and safeguard their livelihoods against natural calamities.

On the evening of June 2, videos of distressed farmers breaking down in tears over the destruction of their crops circulated widely across social media platforms, drawing widespread attention and sympathy.

Around 2.30 pm that day, an intense hailstorm hit more than a dozen key fruit-producing villages in Shopian district, wreaking havoc on apple and cherry crops. 

The affected villages — Handew, Dobipora, Alshipora and Wadipora and Drawni — are renowned for producing high-quality apples and cherries in large quantities in the Valley. However, the storm brought nearly marble-sized hailstones, battering the farms spread across hundreds of hectares.

Farmers say the hailstorm lasted for 15 to 20 minutes, causing huge devastation to apples and drupes.

Following an initial assessment, officials from the Horticulture Department pegged the damage to be between 40 to 90 per cent.

“Some villages witnessed 90 per cent damage to cherry crops, while damage to the apple crop in such villages is more than 80 per cent,” officials said.

Chief Horticulture Officer, Shopian Muneer Ahmad, told businessline that 14 villages were affected and the damage is still being assessed.

“Teams from both the revenue and Horticulture department are assessing the damage,” he added.

Earlier, hailstorm also wreaked havoc on the horticulture of north Kashmir’s Handwara, Baramulla and Rafiabad areas.

Crop Insurance 

Following the hailstorm, calls for the implementation of a comprehensive crop insurance schemes grew louder, with farmers demanding immediate government intervention to compensate for their losses and safeguard their livelihoods against natural calamities.

Peerzada Shabir Ahmad, an apple cultivator, said the government provides a meagre amount in the name of compensation, ranging between ₹1,000 to ₹1,500. “It doesn’t even cover a fraction of the input cost,” he added.

President of Apple Farmers Federation of India (Jammu and Kashmir), Zahoor Ahmad Rather, said that one of the key demands of their organisation has been the introduction of a comprehensive crop insurance scheme for the farmers.

“Such a scheme is crucial to protect farmers from the devastating financial impact of natural calamities like hailstorms,” he added. 

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) — an insurance scheme launched in 2016 to provide financial support to farmers facing crop losses due to unforeseen natural events — is yet to be implemented in the region, exacerbating the challenges faced by farmers.

“Tenders were issued multiple times, inviting insurance companies to submit bids for implementing the scheme in the horticulture sector, but there was little response,” said an official.

“One or two companies did submit bids, but their proposals were rejected due to rates exceeding the prescribed limits,” the official added. He said that the government is again floating the tenders. 

Senior CPI(M) leader M.Yousuf Tarigami said that no serious efforts were made to extend the PMFBY to the region. 

Source - https://www.thehindubusinessline.com