The enrolment for the Prime Minister's Fasal Bima Yojana (Crop Insurance Scheme) for the special season between August and October is in full swing and the agriculture department has requested farmers to avoid a last minute rush for insuring their crops. "Generally during the special season, natural calamities like cyclones and excessive rainfall may occur and this may lead to crop loss. The farmers can avoid losses if they insure their crops," a senior official in the agriculture department said explaining how insuring their crops will help them. The official also said during the special season, around 10 to 12 lakh farmers would insure their crops in around 20 lakh acres.  So, if the farmers could avoid last minute rush, the process would be smooth. Officials said so far 3.32 lakh applications have been received for insuring the crops in 2.08 lakh acres. Of the total area insured, 1.12 lakh acres have been insured for Samba Paddy II while 0.93 lakh acres have been insured for Maize II crop and 0.03 lakh acres for Cotton II crop. The loanee farmers are requested to approach the financial institutions and furnish necessary forms for enrolment and non-loanee farmers can insure their notified crop through Common Service Centres or Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies or nationalised banks in their vicinity. The notification for the special season was issued on November 4 and the enrolment is in progress for Samba Paddy II, Maize II, Cotton II and Onion II.  For Samba paddy II in Tiruvallur and Tiruvannamalai, November 15 is the cut off date for enrolling for crop insurance. For the districts of Erode, Karur, Perambalur, Ramanathapuram, Trichy, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Salem, Sivaganga, Tirupur, Dharmapuri, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Theni, Thoothukudi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Villupuram and Kallakurichi, the cut off date is November 30 for Samba Paddy II. For the districts of Thanjavur, Ariyalur, Dindigul, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Namakkal, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Virudhunagar, the cut-off date will be December 15 for Samba Paddy II. For Maize II crop, following are the last dates: Dindigul and Perambalur (November 15), Trichy (November 30) and Madurai (December 15). The last dates for Cotton II are as follows: Trichy and Cuddalore (November 15) and Dindigul (November 30) and Madurai (December 15). Similarly for Onion II crop, November 30 will be the cut-off date for Trichy and Namakkal. Source - https://www.newindianexpress.com