Economic assessment of crop insurance scheme in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh
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Date
2021-11-26
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Palampur
Abstract
Agriculture has been and still is the major source of livelihood for more than 50 per cent of the total
population of India but being highly dependent on the erratic and uneven monsoons, the sector is
continuously facing unpredictability and higher exposure to various risks and uncertainties. Thus, to
safeguard the interests of the farmers, agricultural insurance in India was first initiated in 1972 in H-4
cotton, which later extended to groundnut wheat and potato. Later on, several national and state level
insurance schemes were implemented by increasing the sphere of coverage. At present, Pradhan Mantri
Fasal Bima Yojana and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme and few state level schemes
are in operation in the country. Himachal Pradesh is a model hilly state of the country as far as development
of agriculture is concerned and the crop insurance in the state is in operation since 1999-2000. But very
limited studies on crop insurance had been carried in the state, hence, the present endeavour was planned to
study the status of crops insurance schemes, assess their coverage, cost, compensation, perceptions and
problems faced by farmers and stakeholders in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. The study was based
on primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected from 80 crop insurers through personal
survey method by adopting two stage random sampling technique. The data have been analysed by working
out averages, percentage, indices and functional analysis. The socio- economic parameters like age wise
distribution, occupational pattern, farm inventories, cropping pattern, etc. were studied. The average size of
land holding was quite low i.e. 0.5330 ha out of which 70 per cent was being cultivated with cropping
intensity of 203.29 per cent. Out of the total respondents 96.25 per cent were loanee and about 75 per cent
of the total cropped area of total respondents was insured. The perceptions of the respondents revealed that
among the various components of risks, the production risk (83.75 per cent) was reported to be major
concern followed by price risk (11.25 per cent). On account of these risks, production losses to extent of
2.43, 0.49q and 0.01q/farm were estimated in wheat, paddy and maize, respectively on sample farms. The
coverage of crops under insurance with respect to area and farmers increased at the rate of 6.67 and 10.38
per cent/annum of compound growth rate, respectively, during 2000-01 to 2019-20 in the country, whereas
these figures for state were at 35.36 and 24.25 per cent. During the period of 1999-2000 to 2019-20, the
sum insured, premium paid by farmers and compensation received under different schemes in Himachal
Pradesh increased at 43.77, 17.59 and 3.69 per cent/annum, respectively. Lack of awareness, difference
between actual and threshold yields, procedural complexities, etc. were the major problems reported by the
respondents. The measures like increasing the awareness regarding crop insurance, solutions for practical
problems, availability of inputs on time, promotion of RWBCIS for covering fruits and vegetables, etc. are
suggested to increase the adoption of crop insurance schemes in the study area