With the unseasonal rain and hailstorm damaging Rabi (winter) crops - like wheat and mustard - in parts of certain states across north, central and western India, the Centre on Monday assured taking necessary actions for extending financial assistance to all affected farmers after getting ground report of crop loss in next three to four days.
The assurance came from the Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh who told the Lok Sabha that the central team was ready to visit the affected states.
Singh said necessary help would be extended from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) after assessing the extent of damages in different areas.
Besides these four states, the farmers are also affected in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana where rains and hailstorm over the weekend flattened wheat, mustard and coriander crops. As many as 264 villages have been severely affected in Madhya Pradesh alone.
Farmers in Maharashtra, too, felt the impact as mango crop was affected in certain parts of the state due to rains in the previous week. The current spell of rains will, however, be beneficial for late-sown crops provided there is no wind or hailstorm in coming weeks.
The minister's assurance came hours after the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi raised the issue in the lower house and demanded immediate action to extend relief to the affected farmers on Monday. Demanding statement from the agriculture minister on the issue, Gandhi said the Centre should hasten the provision of relief to the affected farmers and, unlike the last time, the assistance should reach them as early as possible.
The agriculture ministry officials, on the basis of the preliminary findings, believe that the impact of rains and hailstorm is less than last year when as many as 15 states were affected due to rains.
Unseasonal rains and hailstorm during March- April, 2015 had damaged the wheat crop significantly, resulting in 7% drop in wheat production in 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14. "The impact this year will be disastrous if the rains continue for a few more days in March," said an official.
Since the new crop insurance scheme will not cover this winter crop loss, the farmers will have to depend on the new enhanced compensation package that was announced last year.
Under the new enhanced compensation norms, affected farmers can avail of financial assistance if at least 33% of their crop has been damaged by hailstorms, floods, cyclones, drought, pest attacks, cold wave/frost and other notified disasters as against the earlier norms that required a minimum loss of 50%.
Farmers in rain-fed areas are, under the new norms, currently eligible to claim assistance of Rs 6,800 per hectare as compared to Rs 4,500 per hectare under the old norms. Similarly, farmers in areas with assured irrigation are eligible for Rs 13,500 per hectare as against Rs 9,000 per hectare. In case of perennial (horticultural) crops, the compensation had last year been increased from Rs 12,000 to 18,000 per hectare.
