Kerala - Alappuzha   

Kuttanad farmers up in arms demanding crop insurance

ALAPPUZHA: Farmers in Kuttanad, alleging that they were yet to be paid crop insurance for the crop damage they faced in March this year, will conduct a march to the district collectorate and stage a dharna there on Friday.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, Kuttanad Vikasana Samithi (KVS) executive director Fr. Thomas Peelianickal said thousands of farmers from Neelamperoor, Kavalam, Kainakary, Muttar, Ramankary and Nedumudi panchayats were denied insurance claims since the damage in these panchayats were not accounted while considering insurance claim applications.

The Agriculture Insurance Corporation did not have its own mechanism to assess crop damage.

The data the corporation relied upon was that provided by the Statistics Department. This data, he said, was not comprehensive, as it was prepared to measure paddy production and not to assess the damage. The dharna, which would be inaugurated by KVS president Rev. Fr. Joseph Kurinjiparambil, would raise demands including assessment of agricultural damage in panchayats that were not included in the earlier round of assessment, setting up of an independent damage assessment mechanism for the Agricultural Insurance Corporation, immediate insurance payment for damage caused by the summer rains in March and payment of premium that should be paid by the government.

Fr. Peelianickal also said that the damage caused to the crop while the farmers waited for the Civil Supplies department to procure the crop should also be given insurance coverage. Further, instead of the existing system of collecting samples from the panchayat-level to assess damage, samples should be collected from each padasekharam, he said.

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