The amended weather-based crop insurance scheme introduced this year by the government has come as a saviour for grape farmers of the State, mainly of Vijayapura district which produces 50 per cent of the grapes in Karnataka. Grape farmers been incurring losses owing to adverse natural conditions and have not been receiving adequate crop insurance for years. The new norms are expected to provide considerable relief to them if their crop is damaged because of the vagaries of nature. According to the amendment, the insurance company would consider the gram panchayat as a base area for assessing the damage, not the taluk. Abhaykumar Nandrekar, State president of the Grape Growers' Association, told The Hindu that in the past, the damage was assessed at the taluk level and some affected areas would be randomly selected for this. “Over the years, the climatic conditions have drastically changed. Today, if hailstones fall in one gram panchayat limit, it may not necessarily fall in the neighbouring GP. If the taluk is considered as a cluster for damage assessment, officials will not get a precise figure of loss as some parts may have affected extensively and others not so much. If the GP is treated as a cluster, the area of assessment reduces and we will get a correct figure [of extent of damage]. This in turn helps farmers get more as insurance," he said. Another advantage of the scheme is that from this year farmers will have to pay only a 5 per cent premium, with the State and the Union governments bearing the remaining amount. Mr. Nandrekar said that till last year, grape farmers had to pay nearly Rs. 25,000 an acre as insurance, but from this year it will be around Rs. 9,000 a hectare (i.e.: 2.47 acres). He said that of the 21,000 hectares in the State under grape cultivation, over 10,000 hectares of land is in Vijayapura. “We hope the new scheme will help grape farmers who have had to grapple with natural calamities for years in the drought-prone north Karnataka region," he said. Source - http://www.thehindu.com