The Agriculture Insurance Board has paid farmers 2.362 billion rupees as compensation for crop damage in the four previous farming seasons, excluding the 2023 Yala season, Chairman of the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board, Madduma Bandara Weerasekera, said.

“This means the 2020-21 Maha, 2021 Yala, 2021-22 Maha and 22 Yala seasons. We have compensated 105,467 farmers for 149,524 acres. We only have to pay for crop damages in the2023 Yala,” he said.

Weerasekera said that in 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to provide free insurance for six crops, i.e., paddy, corn, soybean, big onions, potatoes and chili.The free insurance covers damage caused by wild elephants, drought and floods.

“We pay 40,000 rupees per acre. This was the cost of planting an acre of the above-mentioned crops in 2018. Recently, prices of inputs have increased and we have calculated that about 100,000 rupees is needed for an acre. So we have an alternative plan, if a farmer pays 6000 rupees, we pay them 100,000 per acre. If they don’t contribute, we pay them 40,000 rupees as compensation,” he said.

Weerasekera said they are calculating crop damage, and they work with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Services.

“We have 30 offices that we maintain too. They have reported that 31,815.96 acres of farm lands have been damaged by the drought by 16 August. Around 27,169 farmers have been affected. Most damage is reported from the Kurunegala district (10, 232 acres.) 6,000 acres in Mahawa, 10,117 acres in Udawalawa. 101 acres in the Kalutara district. 211 acres in Matale, 168 acres in Galle, 629 acres in Matara, 166 acres in Hambantota, 241 acres in Vavuniya, 529 acres in Batticaloa, 634 acres in Ampara, 374 acres in Trincomalee, 444 acres in Puttalam, 336 acres in Anuradhapura, 338 acres in Moneragala, 398 acres in Ratnapura, 276 acres in Thambuttegama (a Mahaweli area) haven been affected. We have decided to pay them, but the estimation process continues,” he said.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Agriculture Insurance Board, Panduka Weerasinghe ,said that in 2017, when there was a serious drought, 523,000 farmers were affected. Over 5.3 billion rupees were paid as compensation then.

The Board pays 371 million rupees as pensions for 171,000 farmers each month, as well, he added.Weerasinghe said that compared to private institutions, the insurance and pension schemes offered by the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board offer greater perks at a much lesser premium. (RK)