Farmers Incentives, not Crop insurance

Dhaka, Bangladesh || Thursday, 25 April 2024 || 12 Boishakh 1431

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Farmers Incentives, not Crop insurance

Md.Refatul Hossain

Published : Wednesday, 2 March, 2022 at 9:28 PM, Count : 749

There is no disbelieving that Agriculture played very important role in the economy of our country where farmers are the key-actor behind this drive. From the time immemorial, agriculture is an integral part of our culture and civilization. Still our farmers account their budgeting and decide their daily livelihood on the produces they cultivated. Occupationally around 47% manpower directly involved in agriculture to feed more than 160 million people of the country. Though our agriculture is challenging every moment, but we cannot disregard the commendable progress and tremendous success of it. Especially in the production trend, crop diversification, mechanization, hybrid rice cultivation is noticeable.

Recently we came to know that our major kitchen item onion ranked third in the global position considering its production. We can remember the sky rocketing price of this spice which was the talk of the farm community and the commoners too. The Governments initiatives achieved to produce 3.362 million metric tons of onion in the year 2020-21 where our annual demand is around 3.50 million metric tons.This happened without providing any crop insurance to the farmers rather giving incentives and training before cropping season. The year 2021-22, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has taken an incentive program just before the winter season where Tk. 248.88 million allocated for ten crops like boro rice, onion, mustard, lentil, mungbean, maize, wheat, sunflower, ground nut and black gram among 3.412 million farmers.

This incentive program has been operating since five years back. Agriculture, from the beginning of the Government has taken its status as priority issue to ensure self sufficiency in food. The country has already achieved self sufficiency in cereal crops. Now our subsistence agriculture is taking off towards commercial and export oriented ground through the various pragmatic initiatives. And no doubt the Government is always friendly to its farmers making realistic policies to take over the challenges. Climate change, declining cultivable land, degradation of soil quality, natural disasters etc. are the major hinders now facing our agriculture.

Despite these, this sector is growing upward step by step using technologies and supporting incentives to our farmers who always tend to risks. Crops and Farmers are for all time vulnerable in this disaster-prone country. Crop damages and farmer looses once it was the regular phenomena of our country which now possible to overcome to minimize the loss providing rehabilitation, incentive, demonstration, subsidies, credit and so on to protect them. I would say our farmers are protected under the mentioned program of the Government in case of increasing production but somehow inclined a bit risk considering fair price of their produces. It is definite; we cannot overthrow the challenges like drought, salinity and flood by means of providing crop insurance.

Sometime this insurance made our farmers inactive to save the crops, they would somewhat give the impression of getting insurance money and a dishonest quarter created to cheat the true farmers who have really been hampered. The process of receiving insurance benefit is still complicated. Experience confirmed when an embankment is on the way to damage farmers collectively tried to repair it with their own efforts to save crops. But when the crops ensured they would do nothing as looked forward to have the benefit of coverage. That is why, it is better to continue the incentives program wrapping more farmers and areas to diminish the loss.

Writer: Additional Director (retd), Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)

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