Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Ashok Bajare,a potato cultivator from Ambegaon taluka in Pune district has reason to worry. He has a Rs eight lakh investment riding on his potato crop at his 20 acre plot in Bhavadi village. And no way to protect his crop from Late Blight or karpa the most common and dreaded potato disease that can only be prevented,not cured. To add to his woes is the fact that none of the insurance companies,not even the Central governments Agriculture Insurance Company AIC of India provide insurance cover against Late Blight.
Bajare is one of 4000 farmers from Satgaon Pathar area where the total investment in the potato crop this year is Rs 70 crore. They are contract farmers who have annual contracts with Multinationals like PepsiCo and ITC Limited who directly purchase their produce of Atlantic and FL 1533 potato varieties - exclusively used for potato chips manufactured by them.
The farmers have now forwarded their request to Ambegaon MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil,state agriculture minister Balasaheb Thorat and MLA Dilip Walse-Patil. We had demanded a government insurance scheme that will cover Late Blight. We had also demanded the abolition of 12.5 per cent VAT that AIC charges on insurance premium, said Rajendra Dhumal,another farmer. He added that potato crop must be notified in the National Insurance Scheme just like jowar,bajra,maize etc. Adhalrao Patil said that he had taken up the issue in Parliament and that Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawars response had been positive. A good insurance scheme covering Late Blight for potatoes will be looked into, he said.
