JAIPUR: It is a bad Kharif season for farmers in the state. First it was the flood, then the drought that had taken a heavy toll on the Kharif season. owing to this, altogether, nearly 20 lakh hectares of Kharif crops have been lost, according to initial estimates. The government-ordered ‘girdawari’ is still on and the full extent of damage to the crops due to the vagaries of nature could be known only once the ‘girdawari’ is complete.
Due to the failure of the monsoon, nine districts have come under the grip of drought-like situation. According to initial estimates, about 14.76 lakh hectares of crops have been destroyed due to drought alone.
Crop loss due to heavy rain and flood in July was estimated to be nearly 4.84 lakh hectares. Thus the total crops perished in the current sowing season owing to flood is nearly 20 lakh hectares.
The total sowing of crops during this season was 47.24 lakh hectares. The western Rajasthan is the worst affected by the scanty rainfall during this monsoon season. Bajra and Guar are the major crops affected in these districts.
Agriculture minister Lalchand Kataria has directed the officials to provide mid-season adversity assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana after conducting a survey of the damage caused to crops due to scanty rainfall.
He directed the officials to invoke provision 21.4 of the scheme if the main crop is expected to yield less than 50 per cent as compared to the average yield of the last seven years.
Under this provision, the district collector had to convene a meeting of the District Level Monitoring Committee (DLMC) to constitute a joint panel to conduct a survey in the areas where there is a possibility of reduction in production by more than 50 per cent.
He said that during the survey, geo-tagging of photos and videos with date and time will be done. Also, the signature of the representative of the insurance company and the of farmer will be taken on the survey report.
The joint committee includes the personnel of the revenue and agriculture department, representatives of the insurance company and farmers. Under this provision, immediate assistance is provided to the farmers. The balance insurance claim is adjusted on the basis of the average yield obtained after harvesting, he said.
At present a joint survey is being done in Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, Pali, Sirohi and Ganganagar districts.
