Baijayant Panda seeks to extend crop insurance deadline

Bhubaneswar: Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda has requested union Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to extend crop insurance deadline from July 31 to August 31 for Odisha farmers under National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS).

In a letter to Singh, the parliamentarian stated the farmers face considerable risk and uncertainty on account of environmental disasters as well as drought like situations.

“Moreover this year, Odisha has faced uneven and deficient rainfall which has delayed the agriculture operations of the State. Such conditions make crop insurance under NAIS an important safety anchor to support their livelihoods,” the letter read.

“In order to ensure that maximum number of farmers get to avail the safety net that the crop insurance under NAIS provides, I would like to request you to kindly extend the cut-off date for applying for insurance coverage by the non-loanee farmers from the current July 31 to August 31,” it further stated.

Earlier on August 12, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had requested the Centre to extend cut-off date for farmers to apply for crop insurance under the scheme.

In his letter to Singh, the CM had said, "In order to help maximum numbers of farmers to avail the benefits provided under the crop insurance scheme of the government, it is requested that the cut-off date for applying for insurance coverage by the non-loanee farmers may be further extended to August 31, 2015 instead of July 31, 2015 under the NAIS during the kharif-2015."