Farm distress: Centre wants states to properly implement its irrigation schemes

NEW DELHI: With back to back drought years putting farmers under tremendous stress, the Centre believes it's effort to bolster irrigation infrastructure and disburse relief to farmers after extreme weather events are falling short thanks to some states dragging their feet.

Union agriculture ministry in its periodic review of these schemes found many states not up to the mark with minister Radha Mohan Singh asking them to pull up their socks while emphasizing that central funds will not be a constraint as long as states do their bit to improve the situation.

Singh told TOI that he reviewed many central schemes in presence of state agriculture secretaries on Tuesday. "The Centre is extending all necessary helps to the states. Since agriculture is the state subject, its proper implementation is the responsibility of state government. Proper implementation will help minimize the farm stress".




Besides reviewing the key schemes like creating rural irrigation infrastructure that is necessary to protect farmers in rain deficit zones in future, the minister also took stock of the situation arising out of drought in as many as 18 of the country's 29 states.

Citing data and review report, he said, "States have been given highest relief amount under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government. Responsibility of disbursement lies with the states. As far as rural irrigation scheme is concerned, some of the states have not even spent their allocated fund to create irrigation infrastructure in villages".

Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), however, picked holes in the entire relief scenario on the basis of conclusions thrown up by its own studies after extensive field visits in the areas affected by extreme weather events.

Citing its report - 'Lived Anomaly', the think-tank stressed that there was a need to reform the way the relief is estimated and delivered. Besides, crop insurance sector also needs improvements and it should be made viable for farmers, it said while flagging the "need to use technology for accurate and speedy crop damage assessment".

"We are seeing an increased severity and frequency of extreme weather events. Farmers in India are facing the double blow of agrarian distress and extreme weather events as a result of climate change. A series of measures including better protection mechanisms are needed to support them," said the CSE chief Sunita Narain. She was speaking at the National Consultation on Crop Loss Estimation, Relief and Compensation organized by the think-tank.

The report highlights the need for urgent reforms in the agrarian sector, given the expected increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, and cites instances of advancements in crop damage assessment and crop insurance schemes that are more attractive to farmers.

"This was the third year in a row when the Rabi season was thrown off kilter in large parts of India by deviant weather. In 2013, five states were impacted and 0.35 million hectares (ha) of standing crops affected. In 2014, six states were affected and 5.5 million ha of crops, just a month away from being harvested, were damaged. In 2015, no less than 15 states were hit and 18.23 million ha of crops were damaged," said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of the CSE.