No safety net for farmers

At a time when shifting weather patterns are detrimentally impacting our horticulture, the government needs to pay attention. Despite lofty declarations and government-sponsored slogans about “doubling farmers’ income,” Kashmir’s Rs 20,000 crore horticulture sector, the economic lifeline of lakhs, is operating without the most basic safety net: crop insurance.

An RTI reply to the correspondent of this newspaper lays bare what most fruit growers in the Valley have long suspected: that the failure to implement crop insurance schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) is not due to lack of policy but lack of will, aggravated by insurer disinterest and unaffordable premiums.

In 2024, bids were finally invited. Only two insurance companies showed up. Their premium rates were as high as 30%. The government, rightly, couldn’t justify them, so the tender was cancelled.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground has gone from bad to worse. Prolonged dry spells, rising temperatures, and erratic rainfall have wrought havoc on apple orchards this year. Growers say their fruit is underdeveloped and low in weight. The income from this season may barely cover their input costs. And there is no cushion to fall back on.

In an agriculture-based economy like ours, where each orchard sustains not just a family but also seasonal workers, the absence of a crop insurance mechanism leaves people dangerously vulnerable. A single hailstorm or early snowfall could wipe out an entire year’s income. The government knows this, has acknowledged it, and yet offers no protection.

On a positive, fruit production has grown steadily, up 10% over the last five years. Officials often call the horticulture sector “a silent achiever.” But there’s a bitter irony here: while the government praises the sector’s resilience, it hasn’t made it resilient.

Talk of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for apples, another longstanding demand of growers, remains just talk.

If the government is serious about rural livelihoods and sustainable agriculture, it must stop delaying and start delivering. That means negotiating better terms with insurers, subsidising premiums where needed, and above all, listening to the people who actually grow the fruit that powers this economy.