Farmers under crop insurance cover in Assam

GUWAHATI: As much as 11,477.362 hectares of land involving 21,660 farmers have been covered under the Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) in 27 districts of Assam for the 2014 Kharif season,

The crops insured include both agricultural and horticultural crops like sali paddy, jute, black gram, green gram, ginger, turmeric, lady's finger etc - grown between June and September, 2014 - an agriculture department release said.

The total premium amount collected under the scheme for the season so far was about Rs 46.82 crore.

While 50 per cent of this amount was paid by the farmers, the remaining 50 per cent was given by the central and state governments, each paying 25 per cent.

As per Central guidelines, the premium amount is 12 per cent of the total cost of cultivation for horticultural crops and 10 per cent of the total cost of cultivation for agricultural crops.

The part of the premium paid by the central and state governments is subsidy to the farmers in respect of insuring their crops from the vagaries of weather.

Eight insurance companies have been engaged in this exercise - the government-run Agricultural Insurance Company of India Ltd, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, HDFC Ergo GIC, Reliance General Insurance Company, Cholamandalam GIC Ltd, Future Generali India Insurance Co Ltd, SBI General Insurance Co Ltd and Bajaj Allianz GIC Ltd.

For the Rabi 2014-15 season, the Centre has approved the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) for major crops, mainly summer paddy, wheat, potato, sugarcane, rape seeds and mustard seeds.