Farmers get only Rs 67cr from PM crop insurance | Aurangabad News

Aurangabad: Farmers in the district — against a total of Rs 264 crore contributed for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana crop insurance — have so far received a meagre amount of Rs 67 crore towards compensation for crop damages, while a sum of Rs 20 crore will be disbursed in another few days.
Officials from the agriculture department said the actual compensation received by the farmers in the district will be calculated only after yield estimation for maize and cotton is done.
As per data, around 22% of the sowing area in the district is covered with maize, while 60% area is under cotton.
A total of 5.69 lakh farmers from the district had opted for covering 2.50 lakh hectare of their farm under this crop insurance scheme.
Between July 23 and August 15, there were no rainfall and this was followed by excessive rains in the following months.
As a result, the agriculture department received 2.68 lakh complaints, out of which 1.80 lakh were found to be legitimate.
Considering the complaints, we invoked the mid-season adversity clause due to which Rs 47 crore has been sanctioned and Rs 24.35 crore has been received as compensation by the farmers.
Agriculture superintendent Tukaram Mote said, “Farmers have contributed Rs 26.23 crore towards payment of premium, while the state and the central governments contributed the remaining amount, making the total contribution to Rs 264 crore.
So far, this year, the farmers have received a total compensation of Rs 67 crore while another Rs 20 crore will be released soon.”
Claims for black gram and green gram crops have been forwarded and farmers are expected to get compensation of about Rs 20 crore in another month’s time.
Authorities said considering the number of weather-related events, there has been considerable crop loss in the district.
Agriculture supervisor Balasaheb Joshi said difference between threshold yield and actual yield will be calculated to find out average yield before crop insurance claims are finalised for the two major crops — maize and cotton.