Even as the state is staring at its most severe drought in recent years, the state agriculture department has not issued a notification for the weather based crop insurance scheme (WBCIS) for the ongoing Rabi season which could have benefitted thousands of farmers. Though the notification for the Rabi season had to be issued by October, the agriculture department is yet to select the implementing agency in the state prior to the issuance of the notification. This is when the tender document for selecting the implementing agency, from among insurance companies', states that the last date for applying for crop insurance will be January 15. That would leave the farmers with a very limited window period to enrol for the scheme, even if the government completes the procedures by then. The government had declared all the 14 districts in the state as drought- hit on October 31. The central government sponsored insurance scheme intends to provide protection to farmers from adverse weather conditions, such as high mean temperature and low mean temperature, deficit rainfall and excess/unseasonal rainfall, temperature fluctuation etc., which would have come as a relief to farmers battling drought conditions in the state this season. "Farmers in the state are already in dire straits and facing crop losses due to high monsoon deficit and a gruelling summer season on the anvil. The weather based crop insurance scheme would have provided much relief especially this season. But the delays from the government's side in notifying the scheme has made the situation all the more untenable," K Unnikrishnan, a farmer based at Ottapalam in Palakkad said. Only around 30,000 farmers had signed up for the scheme during the 2016 Kharif season. Also, the state had not implemented the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in the last Kharif season. Officials in the agricultural insurance sector said that the delay in issuing notification would hinder the effective implementation of the weather based crop insurance scheme. "If the window available for farmers for taking insurance is less, then the participation of the farmers would naturally come down. As per the scheme the notification was to be issued in September and latest by the first fortnight of October," D Rajesh, regional manager of the Agriculture Insurance Company of India said. Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/