Alappuzha: Farmers in Kerala who lost crops to vagaries of nature are still awaiting compensation. The debt-ridden farmers are now facing a crisis due to the non-receipt of their crop insurance claims.
The arrears in payment of compensation under the State Crop Insurance Scheme to farmers, including those who lost their crops in heavy rain and floods and other natural calamities, have risen to Rs 70.59 crore. These are the arrears of the last financial year alone.
The amount to be paid to the farmers who lost their crops in natural calamities is Rs 44.56 crore. Of this, Rs 34.56 crore has to be given by the State Government, while Rs 10 crore has to be paid from the State Disaster Relief Fund. Even though Rs 6.8 crore was sanctioned for the relief fund, the money has not been disbursed to anyone. The amount was sanctioned towards the end of last month. Only 6,045 farmers have been given compensation from the State fund.
An amount of Rs 25.93 crore is yet to be disbursed as compensation under the Crop Insurance Scheme. These are the arrears for nearly 1 lakh farmers. In total, the payment of crop insurance has been disbursed to only 20,803 farmers.
Arrears in crores have been run up in earlier years too. Many have left agriculture after not receiving the compensation at the proper time. The arrears are more in Alappuzha and Palakkad districts. Even though Rs 30 crore was allocated in the State Budget for the State Crop Insurance Scheme, the amount was used to pay the arrears of earlier years to farmers.
