Hyderabad: Not even 10 per cent of farmers in the state, who have suffered huge losses due to drought during last year and this year, will be getting insurance amount. Banks have neglected collecting insurance premium from majority of the farmers.
The commissioner for agriculture C. Parthasarathi said that according to the banks, farmers were opposing the payment of insurance premium.
“When we enquired with the banks, they told us that farmers were opposing payment of premium arguing that the premium amount would go waste as the insurance settlement process is highly complicated and they never got insurance earlier. We asked banks to guide the farmers properly on the importance of insurance cover. We will also create awareness among farmers on the need to take insurance cover for crops,” said Mr C. Parthasarathi, the commissioner for agriculture.
Officials said the insurance claim norms were not “farmer-friendly” and it is difficult to get claims in Telangana as per climatic and agriculture conditions here.
For instance, agriculture activity in Telangana is dependent on borewells while insurance firms settle insurance claims in case of cyclones and other natural calamities, which are rare here when compared with neighbouring AP.
Taking these factors into consideration, farmers too shy away from getting insurance cover with a view that the premium amount paid would go waste and they would not any insurance in TS.
