Even as Odisha is one of 10 major onion producing States in the country and has achieved self-sufficiency in its production, the rabi crop is not covered under National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) due to lack of production figures. The State Level Technical Committee (SLTC) had recommended to the State Level Coordination Committee on Crop Insurance (SLCCCI) headed by Chief Secretary GC Pati for addition of four more crops to the existing list of four crops for insurance coverage under NAIS. But a meeting of the SLCCCI chaired by the Chief Secretary decided to extend the crop insurance to black gram (Biri) and green gram (Moong) in the rabi season. Though the SLTC recommended to cover onion and sugarcane under NAIS, the two crops were dropped. “Onion could not be considered for insurance coverage under NAIS due to lack of production statistics. The Directorate of Horticulture could not provide onion yield data for the preceding 10 years for calculation of insurance premium,” official sources said. On the other hand, sugarcane was kept outside the purview of the insurance scheme following resistance from cane growers. The farmers growing sugarcane said realising insured amount from the insurance companies in case of crop failure is a very cumbersome process and they had bitter experience in the past. However, potato has been extended insurance cover after the Potato Mission was launched by the Government last year. The State, which had registered onion production of 4.19 lakh tonnes in 2012-13, had a good harvest last year. The production was nearly five lakh tonnes last year. However, due to lack of storage and marketing facilities, farmers sell their produce at throwaway price. With weather becoming increasingly unpredictable and in the absence of any instructional arrangement to buy back the produce, onion growing farmers are very susceptible to the vagaries of nature. Besides, poor infrastructure and inability of the Government to create efficient storage facilities have proved a bane for the farmers who are now keen to go for cultivation of the cash crop in a commercial way, said an officer of the Horticulture Department. The State Government recently floated the idea of launching ‘Onion Mission’ to encourage farmers to take up cultivation on commercial scale and to create adequate storage space to stave off the rising prices of onion. Kalahandi, Balangir, Angul, Boudh, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj are the major onion producing districts of the State. Source - http://www.newindianexpress.com