Safety cover for crops

In a traditional agrarian society the outcome of all our agricultural activities depends on factors that are beyond us. The weather determines if the crop is abundant or meagre. So if crop depends on weather it means the economy of this sector is solely dependant on weather.

But now, given the scientific developments and other economic instruments, farmers and orchidists can be saved from the effects of any extreme vagaries of weather. The intervention of technology is now so rampant in this sector that one can almost predict the final produce. Not just that, the insurance sector and the government policies also are employed to safeguard this sector from large-scale losses. But this is not the case here.

Each time we have hailstorm, gusty winds, downpour, or heavy snowfall, it takes a heavy toll on our agricultural produce. In all such cases we have no defence. We have not attained the level of technological intervention that can safeguard our farms, fields, and orchards. Consequently our farmers suffer a lot.

This is a major challenge for this sector of economy in our region. Just days back we had hailstorm and gusty winds in some areas of Kashmir. We know this is the time when our apple orchards are full of produce. And this has caused good damage. It is not happening for the first time. The government needs to answer that what has been done to extend insurance cover in such cases, and what is the level of technological intervention to ensure that the damage is minimised.

The political parties right now campaigning at full throttle, need to go beyond expression of concern. In case a party comes to power what is its plan to address the problems of this sector. These parties need to spell out their plans clearly and make party policies for all such matters.

We are right now struggling with million different problems, the political parties  can not escape the responsibility of doing serious thinking over these matters and informing people at large about the outcome of that thinking. It is finally the internal thinking of a political party that translates into government policies later.