PMFBY data: ‘Moong, soyabean most insured crop in Maharashtra; cotton, paddy least’

Barring soyabean and moong, only a fraction of the other crops were insured. The area under cotton cultivation saw a meagre insurance coverage with only 6.30 lakh hectares being insured of a total of 42.29 lakh hectares.

While the paddy crop, which was sown over 15.55 lakh hectares witnessed only 1.72 lakh hectares being insured. Similarly, farmers have insured an insignificant portion of sown areas for tur, urad, maize, and groundnut among other crops. Moong and urad are early maturing crops, which farmers usually sow in June-July and harvest within 60 days. However, both moong and urad have faced sowing breaks during the monsoon season affecting the yield. Experts have attributed the rise in insurance coverage of moong and soyabean to the high risk involved in their cultivation.

Soyabean, a 90-day crop, is one of the major cash crops in the Marathwada and Vidarbha region and accounts for the maximum enrolment under the central insurance scheme. Over the last few years, post-harvest losses in soyabean due to rainfall during the harvest period have become a common factor, which made farmers increasingly opt for insurance. On the other hand, cotton is a hardier crop with multiple picking seasons. Even if the first picking is destroyed, farmers can make multiple pickings as the crop progresses. Also, the farmers’ share of the premium for both cotton and onion is 5 per cent, while for other crops it is 1.5 to 2 per cent. So, they prefer taking risks.