Proceedings Report on Farm Income Insurance: Issues and Way Forward

Transcription

1 Proceedings Report on Farm Income Insurance: Issues and Way Forward Date: 4 th September, 2014 Venue: Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar Organized by Knowledge Partner Event Partner Supported by

2 CONTENTS About the Conference... 3 Inaugural Ceremony... 3 List of Dignitaries... 4 Welcome Address by Shri. Babubhai Bokhiria, Hon ble Agriculture Minister of Gujarat... 5 Inaugural Address by Shri. Radha Mohan Singh, Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture, Government of India... 6 Keynote Speech by Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat... 6 Concluding Remarks by Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat... 7 Technical Sessions... 9 List of Speakers... 9 Presentation by Mr. B. S. Rahul, Deputy General Manager, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited... 9 Presentation by Mr. Malay Kumar Poddar, Chief Financial Officer, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited Presentation by Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat Presentation by Ms. Harini Kannan, Head Agriculture - South West Asia, Swiss Re Services India Private Ltd Panel Discussion: List of Panel Members Presentation by Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat Presentation by Mr. P. J. Joseph, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, AICIL Presentation by Mr. P. C. James, Chair Professor, National Insurance Academy, Pune Presentation by Prof. Gopal Naik, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore Presentation by Mr. Mohini Mohan Mishra, National Secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh Concluding Remarks by Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS, Additional Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India Question and Answer Session Conclusion of the Panel Discussion Vote of Thanks by Dr. N. K. Singh, Managing Director, Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Limited 28 Way Forward

3 About the Conference India is an agrarian economy with almost half the total employment from this sector. Hence, understandably farmers are the backbone of the Indian economy and they have right to get viable prices for their products. With this view, Government of India implemented National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) covering around 35 crops during each of the Kharif and Rabi seasons. NAIS is a yield-guarantee scheme which operates on the basis of broadly homogeneous area being the unit of insurance. It is widely felt to introduce a new Farm Income Insurance Scheme to protect the farmers against both yield and price risks. To envision the blueprint of this concept, Agriculture & Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat in coordination with Agriculture Insurance company of India Limited (Partner Organization), KPMG (Knowledge Partner) and Radeecal Communications (Event Partner) organized a National Seminar on Farm Income Insurance: Issues and Way Forward at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat on September 4, 2014 as a pre-cursor to the Vibrant Gujarat 2015 Summit. This event provided a platform to address the issues and to evolve a suitable insurance mechanism for protection of farmers against yield and price fluctuations. The event witnessed wide participation of around 1000 delegates including representatives from Government of India, Agriculture Secretaries and Managing Directors of Marketing Boards of major states, Reserve Bank of India, government and private insurance companies, nationalized banks, co-operative banks, Gramin Banks, farmers organization, progressive farmers, APMCs, insurance policy experts, industry players and academicians. Inaugural Ceremony The national Seminar on Farm Income Insurance: Issues and Way Forward was inaugurated by Shri. Radha Mohan Singh, Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture, Government of India and was presided over by Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon ble Chief Minister, Government of Gujarat. The event was graced by the presence of Shri. Babubhai Bokhiria, Hon ble Agriculture Minister of Gujarat; Shri. Nanubhai Vanani, Hon ble Sports Minister of Gujarat; Shri. Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, Hon ble Minister of Education and Food & Civil supplies, Gujarat; Shri. Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Hon ble Minister of Law, Gujarat and Shri. Kantibhai Gamit, Hon ble Minister of Tribal development, Gujarat along with Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS, Additional Secretary of Agriculture, Government of India; Dr. Varesh Sinha, IAS, Chief Secretary of Gujarat and Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat. 3

4 List of Dignitaries Name Organization Designation Shri. Radha Mohan Singh Government of India Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture Smt. Anandiben Patel Government of Gujarat Hon ble Chief Minister Shri. Babubhai Bokhiria Government of Gujarat Hon ble Agriculture Minister Shri. Nanubhai Vanani Government of Gujarat Hon ble Sports Minister of Gujarat Shri. Bhupendrasinh Chudasma Government of Gujarat Hon ble Minister of Education and Food & Civil supplies Shri. Pradeepsinh Jadeja Government of Gujarat Hon ble Minister of Law Shri. Kantibhai Gamit Government of Gujarat Hon ble Minister of Tribal development Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS Government of India Additional Secretary of Agriculture Dr. Varesh Sinha, IAS Government of Gujarat Chief Secretary Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS Government of Gujarat Principal Secretary to Government of Gujarat, Agriculture and Cooperation Department 4

5 Welcome Address by Shri. Babubhai Bokhiria, Hon ble Agriculture Minister of Gujarat Hon ble Agriculture Minister of Gujarat, Shri. Babubhai Bokhiria, started off the event by welcoming all dignitaries on the dais and the participants. He stressed on ensuring stability in farm income as agriculture is the main source of income for almost half of the total population. He further explained that with insured income the farmer can use newer technologies and resource which will eventually lead to their betterment. He briefed the audience on the initiatives and achievements by Government of Gujarat for the benefit of the farmers. He said that with the help of check dams, Khet Talavavadis, soil health cards, and Sujlam Sufalam Yojana; the state has managed to achieve the growth rate of more than 10% in agriculture sector in the past decade. In addition, he informed the participants that Gujarat government has made the Crop Insurance Scheme more transparent with the help of online tools and software at disposal. He further stated that to promote the agriculture sector in the state, the year will be celebrated as Krishi Vikas Varsh in Gujarat and went on to brief upon the recently inaugurated Gujarat's first ever Gama Radiation Processing Facility (GRPF) in Ahmedabad district. Concluding his address, Hon ble Minister thanked the organizers for the conceptualization and coordination of event on such a significant topic. Following the welcome address, all the dignitaries on the dais were presented with fruits and agriculture products. These products, following a unique tradition started by Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel, were later distributed to the children in the Anganwadi. The seminar was then inaugurated with the lightening of the lamp by all the dignitaries present. A short interactive film on the topic Farm Income Insurance: Issues and Way Forward was showcased to throw light on the theme of the seminar. 5

6 Inaugural Address by Shri. Radha Mohan Singh, Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture, Government of India Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture, Shri. Radha Mohan Singh, in the inaugural address stressed upon yield risk and price risk as the two key reasons for the need of farm income insurance. He briefed the participants on the changing agricultural scenario in India and appreciated the growth and development in the agriculture sector in Gujarat. He added that farmer faces many uncertainties in income owing to various reasons, of which uncertainties in weather was the major one. He furthermore explained that just by providing subsidies, the income of the farmer cannot be ensured. Moving on, he stressed upon empowering farmers as the foundation-stone of agricultural development, since farmers are the backbone of Indian economy. He explained the importance of Soil Health Card and praised the efforts made by the state government in this direction. He further mentioned that 100 mobile laboratories will be developed for soil testing and issuing Soil Health Cards across the nation. He quoted Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay by saying Water to every farm, Employment to everyone and pointed towards the need of better irrigation facilities. Emphasizing the need of improving the infrastructure facilities in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Hon ble Minister enumerated 7 new Krishi Vigyan Kendras to be introduced in Gujarat. He concluded the address by welcoming the concept new Farm Income Insurance Scheme. Keynote Speech by Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat welcomed all the dignitaries and participants to the event and appreciated their effort in showing such overwhelming interest. She started off her address by showing the strength of Gujarat in managing a significant growth in agriculture sector despite the intermittent droughts and the absence of perennial rivers in the state. She pointed out that the previous insurance schemes were based on the loss faced by the farmers rather than the actual income of the farmer. She stressed upon the need of an insurance scheme that ensures the income of the farmer based on the investments made by him. 6

7 Hon ble Chief Minister pointed towards better infrastructure as a vital ingredient for the agriculture sector to flourish. She mentioned that Gujarat government has provided better irrigation, transportation and electricity facilities to farmers. She also informed that the development of canals has been started with the support of farmers and major canals will be built by She praised the increasing involvement of women in the agriculture and allied sectors in Gujarat and added that Gujarat government has introduced several initiatives and schemes to promote the role of women in the sector. However, speaking about the negative aspect, she appealed to the farmers not to keep their family deprived of healthy foods in attempt to save more. She also stressed upon the need of better storage facilities and indicated that the state government has decided to provide subsidies for building silos/warehouses. She also requested the dignitaries and participants to visit the International Exhibition Agritech Asia to get acquainted with the latest technologies in the agriculture sector. Hon ble Chief Minister also encouraged the farmers to move towards value added services as a next step in agricultural evolution. She enumerated the benefits of the organic farming, highlighted the emergence of a trend towards it and then encouraged the farmers towards organic farming. Furthermore, she emphasized the need of carrying out the research done by scientists for the benefit of the agricultural community and informed that Gujarat has been able to achieve such high growth in agriculture sector due to such effective practices. Following the keynote speech, the fruits presented to the dignitaries were collected by representatives of Anganwadi to provide them to the children. Concluding Remarks by Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat concluded the inaugural session by showing the importance of agriculture as the main source of income for more than half the total population. He explained that in today s scenario, a farmer has no control over the prices he gets by selling the crops. Hence, he further emphasized on the right of the farmers to get commensurate price for their investment and hard work. He buttressed the significance of the seminar which has been organized to provide a platform to all the experts in agriculture sector to 7

8 8 discuss and evolve a suitable insurance mechanism for protection of farmers against yield and price fluctuations. He especially thanked Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, and Shri. Radha Mohan Singh, Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture, for gracing the event with their presence and for providing support towards the evolution of such insurance scheme. He also extended his appreciation and gratitude towards all the dignitaries and participants for showing such enthusiasm.

9 Technical Sessions Following the inaugural session, the event showcased four technical presentations pivoted around the basics of crop insurance schemes and challenges; crop revenue insurance and fundamental market requirements to set up such scheme; and the analysis of pilot Farm Income Insurance Scheme (FIIS). List of Speakers Name Organization Designation Mr. B. S. Rahul Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS Mr. Malay Kumar Poddar Ms. Harini Kannan Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited Agriculture & Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited Swiss Re Services India Private Ltd. Deputy General Manager Principal Secretary Chief Financial Officer Head Agriculture - South West Asia Presentation by Mr. B. S. Rahul, Deputy General Manager, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited Topic - The basics of Today s Crop Insurance Current Scenario and Challenges/ Risks Involved Mr. B. S. Rahul started off the topic with the fact that small and medium farm-holders account for 81% of the total farmers. He briefed the audience upon the present agriculture scenario in India. He pointed out the efforts made by the government to improve the condition of the farmer. He further mentioned previous schemes introduced to ensure the income of farmer as well as crops till date. However, he added that the majority of the schemes introduced till date are area based and has not been able to meet the expectations due to various reasons. Unlike normal insurance schemes, Mr. Rahul remarked, agricultural schemes are not annual but rather on a seasonal basis. Explaining the crop insurance system in India, he added that 9

10 the schemes acted as collateral in which lending agency has the first lien. It often happened that farmer was not aware of the insurance payment credited directly in the bank account. He mentioned that due to this, the direct effect of the insurance was diminished. He further explained that sum insured was based on production cost and was availed up to the value of yield only which worked as a safety net. He further elaborated that in this system, claims process is automated. He elaborated the implementation mechanism of insurance schemes in India, explaining that all the insurance schemes have been run with government support only. The insurance Companies are selected and allocated the districts for implementation of the scheme. State Governments set up the administrative mechanism in their respective state. The farmers avail crop loan from financial institutions and claims are settled by the insurance companies to the insured accounts through financial institutions. He pointed out that availing insurance on individual basis through individual assessment is not feasible at present due to shorter time span of the insurance scheme. He further moved to explain the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme [NAIS]. NAIS, he added, is all risk insurance scheme and operates on area based approach covering all food crops, oilseeds & annual commercial/ horticultural crops. He informed that the scheme is available to all farmers - compulsory for borrowing & optional for non-borrowing. In this scheme indemnity is calculated on actual yield data based on Single Series CCEs (Crop Cutting Experiments) furnished by State Govt. He explained the three components of the latest National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) - Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS), Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) and Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme (CPIS). He pointed out the pros and cons of MNAIS. MNAIS covers prevented/failed sowing; post-harvest loses; and loses accorded due to natural calamities on individual basis. He furthermore explained that the WBCIS scheme is parametric product scheme based on Crop-Weather relationship. The scheme operates on area approach linked to a reference weather station and the sum insured is based on cost of cultivation. He further listed the major challenges in the agricultural schemes as large number of CCE, limited use of technology, issues in credit delivery system, challenges in forecasting of weather, selective and inconsistent participation, varying premium rates based on geography and lack of awareness & insurance literacy etc. Moving ahead, Mr. Rahul pointed out the risks involved in the agricultural sector of India, namely yield risk and price risk as most significant ones. He further explained that yield risk is generated from random uncontrolled inputs like weather including drought, flood, cyclone, inundation, hailstorm, frost, cold waves etc. and also listed the factors that affect the price risk namely, supply & demand, quality / perishability, price fluctuations and trade barriers. 10

11 Finally, he concluded his presentation by mentioning that the production risks are covered under current schemes but price risk are yet to be covered and emphasized the importance of evolving a crop insurance scheme providing both production and price risk coverage. Presentation by Mr. Malay Kumar Poddar, Chief Financial Officer, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited Topic - Lessons from pilot Farm Income Insurance Scheme (FIIS) Mr. M. K. Poddar briefed the audience about the FIIS that was introduced in for two harvest seasons. He enumerated the lessons learnt from the scheme based on the report by Joint Group 2004, Government of India. Providing the background on FIIS, Mr. Poddar explained that farmers income is a function of yield & market price. The risks are high and even normal production may fetch low price. He further expanded on NAIS that it covered only yield fluctuations and does not guarantee the revenue for the farmer. And hence the scheme doesn t provide income security. Elaborating the objectives of the FIIS, Mr. Poddar said that the scheme provided comprehensive income protection in the event of loss due to yield and/or price fluctuations. The scheme aimed to help maintain flow of agricultural credit. Moreover, this scheme encouraged progressive farming practices both in terms of technology & market economics. Explaining further, Mr. Poddar mentioned that FIIS aimed to reduce Government expenditure on procurement at MSP (Minimum Support Price) and paves way for gradual exit from MSP regime. He also added that the scheme was envisioned to streamline yield assessment procedures and pricing mechanisms to help build up comprehensive database. Furthermore, he mentioned that the main benefit derivable from the scheme was that it provided income risk protection to entire produce as against income protection of only marketable surplus under MSP regime. Mr. Poddar then explained the salient features of FIIS and mentioned that the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. was the implementing agency for FIIS which was compulsory for loanee farmers and voluntary for non-loanee farmers. He further informed the participants that all risks leading to loss in farm income were covered under the scheme, which included adverse fluctuations in yield due to any non-preventable natural perils as well as adverse fluctuation of market prices. Mr. Poddar elaborated on the method by which the sum insured was calculated. He explained that yield was taken at unit area while market price and premium rates were determined at 11

12 district level. He added that the product of average yield of past 7 years, indemnity level and MSP were used to calculate the sum insured under the scheme. Explaining the indemnity procedure, Mr. Poddar said that the procedure was automated and farmers need not lodge any claims. He added that actual income was determined by the production of current season s actual yield and market price. And the difference between guaranteed income and actual income would be paid to farmers. He further explained that for this purpose, Daily Modal Price (DMP) for 8 weeks starting from the first arrival of grain is recorded by each APMC. Moreover, for ensuring the sum, the cap of 20% was provided in MSP for price fluctuation in the market price. Mr. Poddar also mentioned that NAIS was withdrawn for the crops covered by FIIS in the districts chosen for the Pilot and the MSP-Procurement system was withdrawn in the districts in which Pilot Project on FIIS was implemented. He informed that under FIIS in Rabi , 15 district of 8 states were covered and in Kharif 2004, 19 districts of 4 states were covered. He then went on to explain the observations of Joint Group 2004, Government of India. It was observed that target of 100 districts remained unfulfilled as many states disagreed with the proposal of suspension of MSP based procurement in areas of FIIS. It was further mentioned that the consensus from the state was that the scheme would not benefit farmers as yield & price offset each other and the states also believed that the premium rates were higher than NAIS even after subsidy. Further, the exclusion of risky crops like soybean, groundnut, cotton etc. was also one of the reasons that FIIS was not widely acclaimed. The Joint Group 2004 also observed that market price for superior varieties hardly goes below MSP, making guaranteed income less attractive. It was observed that probability of claims is less as both yield and price go down together rarely due to the negative correlation between them. Further improper functioning of APMC/ Mandi Boards and unavailability of past & even current data were pointed out as another challenges in the successful implementation of FIIS. It was also found out that since yield fluctuation and the price risk were already being taken care of by NAIS, FIIS did not hold much relevance then. Following this observations, FIIS was discontinued from Rabi season Pointing out the key learnings from pilot FIIS , Mr. Poddar mentioned that the scheme was conceptually ideal, but it was premature to substitute the deep-rooted MSP regime. This was because MSP was available to all farmers at no additional cost whereas FIIS was only available to insured farmers. There was also an anomaly between prices as guaranteed income was assessed on technical basis but claims are reimbursed based on market price. Mr. Poddar also pointed towards the suggestions of Working Group (WG) on Risk Management in Agriculture for XI Five Year Plan Working Group considered Income Insurance as a comprehensive risk mitigation tool in agriculture and recommended revival of FIIS with some suggestions. It was suggested that guaranteed income should be based on futures price from Commodity Markets and that that the scheme could be tried 12

13 initially for price sensitive crops like pulses and oilseeds in selected districts. Highlighting an important suggestion by WG, Mr. Poddar said that the premium rates charged to the farmer would be at par with those charged under area yield insurance schemes. Some of the other important suggestions pointed out by Mr. Poddar included small unit area for assessment, creating awareness in farmers and removing farmers apprehensions and inhibitions. It was also suggested to decide on the status of MSP as MSP and FIIS cannot run in parallel to avoid double benefit by farmers. Being specific on the technicalities, Mr. Poddar further added that financial liabilities and roles & responsibilities of all stakeholders should be clearly defined and suggested that a comparative study of developed markets vis-a-vis ours should be carried out. Concluding the insights from Working Group, Mr. Poddar affirmed that procurement at MSP should be continued till 50% coverage is achieved. Moving on, Mr. Poddar stressed upon the transparency and clear definition of roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders involved including state government, implementing agency and banks. He emphasized the need of functional market mechanism /matured commodity markets to independently determine the price fluctuation between sowing and harvesting. Mr. Poddar also suggested that a realistic deductible should be operationalized i.e. only a significant shortfall in revenue should trigger claims. He in turn also added that the scheme should be more attractive than existing insurance schemes and MSP regime in order to be accepted widely and stressed upon the need of a stable long term policy and formulation of Agricultural Risk Protection Act. He concluded his presentation by suggesting that reinsurance capacity building within the Country is the need of the hour. Presentation by Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat Topic - Crop Insurance Scheme Gujarat State experience and Reforms required in existing scheme Shri. Raj Kumar started off his presentation by informing that NAIS has been in operation in Gujarat for last 15 years. He mentioned that recently the GoI has made the option available to the States to choose from either existing scheme or the new scheme. He then briefed the audience on the initiatives taken by Gujarat government to overcome the shortcomings of the NAIS. He cited an example of year 2012, when the sowing area itself was less than the insured area due to the delayed rain. Hence, a 13

14 huge problem arose in settling the insurance claims. It was then decided by GOI that the claims of the farmers would be settled by applying area reduction factor. Genesis of the claim settlement issues were due to manual system of data collection, collation and aggregation which had made the proper assessment to be difficult. Hence, the need of reforms in the implementation procedure of NAIS. He further explained that the existing schemes provide insurance for the loss of yield as compared to the threshold yield. He also added the nature of other kind of insurance which are weather based, in which the assessment is carried out based on the weather parameters including rainfall, gap in rainfall, moisture etc. Mr. Kumar elaborated the key challenges in successfully implementing the insurance scheme. He pointed out high premium rates beyond the value of threshold yield is one of the major concerns of the farmers when it comes to the NAIS. The other issue is that the farmers who do not avail any loans are often deprived of the insurance schemes due to lack of awareness. He further underlined the moral hazards as a key challenge since farmers prefer buying insurance in difficult year only and there is almost non-existent field verification of crops by banks/ insurance companies. This is contradictory to the general rule that any insurance scheme will be successful if maximum people participate. The other key challenge mentioned by him was uneven distribution of risk among stakeholders. Under NAIS, risks are largely borne by governments. He mentioned that one of the major reasons of the above is that all the land records of the state are computerized and is available online. Through this system, the farmer is able to apply for the insurance scheme online. He further informed that the state government has developed a collaborative portal with banks and farmers as key stakeholders (kcc.gujarat.gov.in). It also provides an excellent platform to farmers to know everything about the NAIS before applying for the insurance online. He also mentioned that through this online application system, total transparency has been ensured and therefore chance of moral hazards has been reduced & speed and accuracy in implementation of NAIS could be achieved which will ultimately lead to the faster settlement of crop insurance claims. Moving forward, he pointed out the likely outcomes of these reforms and said that there is a less likelihood of area discrepancy and application of area reduction factor. He mentioned that instead of uniform level of TY (Threshold Yield)/AY (Average Yield) at State level, this reform would facilitate crop-wise TY/AY in every Block. Further, he also informed that this enables the use of mobile communication for crop specific extension services. Pointing out the transparency and trust among the stakeholders as the most important outcomes of the reform, which would bring down commercial rates of premiums as envisaged under NCIP/NAIS. He further stressed that increased level of transparency and trust would eventually bring down the risks borne by the stakeholders and with the help of lower risks, the premium rates will be brought down by the insurance companies. He also urged the banks to reach out to unbanked farmers and issue KCC. 14

15 Elaborating on the reforms in the agriculture sector in Gujarat, Mr. Kumar then delineated the various reasons due to which the state has been able to achieve the average growth rate of 10% in the past decade, major steps being promoting micro irrigation, soil health cards, water conservation, etc. Mr. Kumar concluded his presentation by requesting all the stakeholders to think in the direction and come up with an insurance scheme with low premium rates. Presentation by Ms. Harini Kannan, Head Agriculture - South West Asia, Swiss Re Services India Private Ltd Topic - Crop Revenue Insurance - Case studies from mature markets Ms. Harini Kannan briefly compared the indemnity, index and revenue insurance. She explained that Indemnity Insurance is a classical insurance with on-spot loss assessment. She mentioned that this is more suitable in the regions where average land holding per farmer is high. She further explained that in the indemnity insurance, losses are covered by actual assessment of individual losses. She further stressed that structuring indemnity products is not cost effective in such regions. Explaining the Index Insurance, she mentioned that it is best suitable for regions like Asia where average land holding area is lower and the agriculture insurance schemes introduced India are index based mostly. Talking about the Revenue Insurance, she mentioned that farm income insurances are revenue insurances. She explained that revenue insurance is a combination of yield data and price data. She informed that in American markets, it is believed that this insurance should be made available for the crops that are traded in future exchanges. Analyzing the worldwide crop insurance markets, she pointed out that USA and Canada are the largest market in this sector by volume of premiums. She mentioned that India is a fast emerging market in this sector, currently ranking fourth worldwide. She informed that this included all types of insurance covering agriculture and allied sectors. She provided examples of scattered attempts made worldwide in the direction of revenue insurance and added that in Asia, area yield index is the most popular among others while index insurance is the most popular in India. Ms. Kannan elaborated on several conditions that need to be fulfilled for a revenue product to be quantifiable and attractive to the farmers. Further explaining the subject she stressed upon the need of a liquid future exchange market for standardized soft commodities. She 15

16 added that regional/local future markets can be considered only after prior assessment about liquidity and trading volumes. She further stressed upon the need of a sound price finding mechanism to determine the final settlement price at the time of the harvest to assure that the commodity future is still liquidly traded. She emphasized on availability of sufficiently long yield data series at the appropriate spatial resolution and lastly mentioned the need of good fundamental understanding of correlation between yield and price. Explaining the challenges in predicting yield data, she showed her support to the use of Terrestrial Observation Prediction System (TOPS) system developed by NASA and implemented in the state of Maharashtra to predict the yield data. Talking about the price data, she stressed upon using reliable data from a third party source and furthermore suggested to set up price trigger mechanism in Insurance products based on percentage of crop arrival in Mandis. She emphasized the need and importance of historical data to structure products and a reliable data source for current claims settlements. She further explained this with the help of case study of USA. She mentioned that in USA, reliable historical yield data is available and is derived from future exchange only. She explained the reason behind premium rates being higher than other insurance schemes and said that revenue insurance offers higher coverage. Additionally, the available coverage levels are 50% to 75% under the revenue insurance which covers unavoidable perils, naturally occurring events and price fluctuations. Going forward, she explained the crop revenue insurance with the help of two scenarios without harvest price option and with harvest price option. In the first scenario, the revenue losses occurring due to difference in base price and harvest price are covered and in the second scenario loss payment is done through multiplication of yield deficit and harvest price. She pointed out the main difference between American and Indian market as the dependence of American market on the future price of the commodity instead of MSP as is done in India. She also mentioned that involvement of government in the insurance process in very strong in USA. She then elaborated on the case study of Brazil and said that indemnity insurance is most famous and revenue insurance is only on pilot basis in Brazil. In addition, the insured area has increased almost 70 fold between 2005 and 2011 due to the active involvement of the government and subsidies provided in the premium rates of the insurance. She also mentioned that farm income insurance was introduced on pilot basis by a private player which was not much successful. Highlighting the reasons she said that subsidies were not provided by the government and pointed towards the absence of good future market as a cause of the poor acceptance of the scheme. Ms. Kannan concluded her presentation by listing the bottlenecks in the successful implementation of the revenue insurance as unavailability of good yield data, independent price data and unavailability of futures market data. 16

17 Panel Discussion: The technical session was followed by the panel discussion on the topic Farm Income Insurance: Evolving Implementation Framework. The panel discussion was chaired by Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS, Additional Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India Government of India. The members of panel were Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Co-operation Department, Govt. of Gujarat; Mr. P. J. Joseph, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, AICIL; Mr. P.C. James, Chair Professor, National Insurance Academy, Pune; Prof. Gopal Naik, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; Mr. Mohini Mohan Mishra, National Secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh. The panel members had detailed discussion on structure of the agriculture production & agriculture market in India and risk management in case of both yield risk and price risk. The panel members brainstormed upon the constraints in executing the existing agriculture insurance scheme effectively. Further, the need of Farm Income Insurance Scheme was emphasized and implementation framework of the scheme was discussed in detail. List of Panel Members Name Organization Designation Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS Mr. P. J. Joseph Mr. P.C. James Prof. Gopal Naik Mr. Mohini Mohan Mishra Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India Agriculture & Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited National Insurance Academy, Pune Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore Bhartiya Kisan Sangh Additional Secretary of Agriculture Principal Secretary Chairman-cum-Managing Director Chair Professor Professor National Secretary 17

18 Presentation by Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat Shri. Raj Kumar kicked off the panel discussion with highlighting that every farmer should get a remunerative price for his produce. And insurance products should be seen in the light of facilitating such goal for farmers. Every farmer should be viewed as involved in a microbusiness and if any business can t earn sustainable profits, it can never continue beyond some time. For India, food security is not only a very significant element from the viewpoint of the country itself but also from the perspective of stability in global food prices. Hence, given the size of our population, the onus of ensuring food supplies lies with the farmers. Laying the groundwork here, he moved on to give insights into the structural format of agriculture as a sector and agriculture markets. Mr. Kumar stated that almost 80% of Indian farmers are small and marginal ones having less than 2 hectares of arable land. The decision of choosing a crop by a farmer is taken by him only with a consideration of past prices and hence is subject to unpredictability. He further mentioned that the prices of most agricultural inputs such as seeds, tools, etc. are market driven. Almost all the time, farmers are at substantial odds with appropriate short term working capital coverage through formal channels, which inadvertently lead the farmers to go to a money lender who charges sometimes even more than 25% interest. This fact itself throws a spanner in the working of agriculture as a micro-business as opposed to that in the most developed nations. He emphasized the coverage of various government schemes such as Kisan Credit Card (less than 50%). He further added that the current insurance schemes such as National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, which mainly deals with yield risk doesn t 18

19 have much coverage. In Gujarat itself, only 25% farmers were covered under NAIS last year. Mr. Kumar moved further to the topic of agriculture markets. Though he was appreciative of Minimum support price as installed in place by Govt. of India across 24 crops, he pointed out about its lack of uniformity in its coverage of crops and various regions of the country. The small and marginal farmers, he added to the topic of informal money lending business, face a lot of issues especially after obtaining a loan with exorbitant interest rates. Even the reform such as amendments of APMC Act has not able to ensure better price realization by the farmers. He enumerated initiatives such as contract farming, direct marketing, terminal marketing, etc. which have been formed to tackle such issues. Another such initiative is through Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority, where farmers can store their produce in accredited warehouses and get loan up to 70% of the cost of their produce from the banks after showing necessary Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWR). Thereafter, when the market prices are up to the farmer s expectation, the produce can be sold in the market. At this point, Mr. Kumar requested central government to study the outcome of APMC reform initiatives across the nation. Another intervention, he delineated, is the Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) introduced by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium, the goal of which is to improve the network and thus the bargaining power of farmers in the agricultural market. However, he cautioned that the time which the uptick in FPOs might take, given the fact that about 50% of the total population of the country depends on the agriculture, can be much more than what India urgently can afford. He summarized his findings with his belief that if the farmer as a producer needs to be strengthen; it has to be done by consolidation and empowerment. Along the direction of FPO, Mr. Kumar proposed the idea of Dynamic Farmers Groups. He added that through Crop Insurance Schemes, the information of the name, type and location of the crop sown by a particular farmer is recorded, a dynamic group of farmers can be formed in contiguous areas till the time the crop is sold in the market. Such group will be incharge of deciding upon the final price of their produce which will be offered in the market. He further pointed out various mobile media social groups, such as WhatsApp, can be used to command such group dynamics, given such a high cellphone/ smartphone penetration in India. The decision of warehousing and other paraphernalia can also be better supported through such group synchronization. According to him, not only will such consolidation of farmers will allow better bargaining power but also improve trading opportunities on commodity exchanges such as MCX and NCDEX. He mentioned that fertilizers are also over-used a lot of times, hence if a mechanism can be evolved to connect Soil Health Card with the fertilizer usages and AADHAR-based cash transfer of fertilizer subsidies, a database can be prepared with an estimation of areas and associated agricultural production. Alongside, using this channel of information Dynamic Group of farmers growing same crop could be formed in the given region/area. In addition to the APMC, farmers groups sell their aggregated produce on electronic trading platforms as well. He held his firm belief in the potential of FPOs and dynamic groups of farmers to lead towards higher bargaining power of farmers and added that pilot of farm income insurance scheme should be undertaken with FPO/Dynamic Group of Farmers. It will lead to price transparency, which will go a long way in reducing the risks of insurance firms. He 19

20 suggested therefore, for the panel members and other stakeholders, not to look at agriculture insurance as a standalone product, but as a business and evolve suitable mechanism to deal with the challenges. Presentation by Mr. P. J. Joseph, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, AICIL Mr. Joseph started off with his view by delineating the agenda of his speech as to present the perspective of insurer when it comes to crop insurance schemes in India. He said that Crop insurance is a commercial activity and hence should be profitable in the long term whether it is revenue insurance or yield insurance. Unlike other insurance, in case of crop insurance there is an important role played by the government. He warned that the basic problem which we have with yield insurance will continue to play in revenue insurance unless the problems are set straight, such as yield assessment which is not done very rigorously till now. He further indicated that revenue insurance had its own problems as explained by the speakers before, such as the lack of robust commodity market, delay in getting yield data from government, delay in calculating the losses by the insurance firms etc. Today there is a lot of dissatisfaction among farmers with respect to insurance schemes and to ensure that these do not continue for the new insurance scheme as well, he emphasized to set the issues straight. Presentation by Mr. P. C. James, Chair Professor, National Insurance Academy, Pune Mr. James highlighted the role of agricultural insurance as significant in the Indian context since about 50% of the population depends on agricultural income directly or indirectly. However, he remarked, agriculture insurance is relatively new concept and it is a noteworthy fact that in the last few years, agriculture insurance companies have dramatically reduced risks, such as risks related to insuring groundnut production have come down from a cost of around 25% to 9%, cotton from 17% to 8%, etc. He added that the expenses of agricultural insurance companies have also reduced to 2% when compared with other insurance sectors. All of these are helping farming community to ensure a much more affordable price than before. He further indicated that since farmers are not able to spend time in paperwork, the insurance plans have now been prepared to take such issues into consideration. 20

21 However, he cautioned that agricultural insurance is a difficult subject to deal with because of systemic risk associated with the sector. There is a need to measure many things along with the presence of too many stakeholders and in addition there is not much discipline in the measurement of correct information and data. He again warned about including systemic price risk when evolving the new insurance scheme on the top of yield risk which itself has associated systemic inclination. He summarized the crux of insurance conundrum with the question Who will bear the cost of risk? which ultimately, he said, leads to the policy holder but in process the problem is also shifted to the insurance companies, the government or some other agency. Ultimately, the end is not sustainable unless the cost of risk is properly understood and reduced before new insurance schemes are adopted. He further added that the government might have to come forward with a definitive plan to give accurate results with an authority to determine the forward price so that speculators do not take advantage by defrauding the farmers and insurance companies. Mr. James then moved on to talk about the prices that have certain but unpredictable boom and cycles year after year, which leads us to the question of bearing the cost of such a long duration systemic price risk. He summarized his speech by exhorting all participants that the time is ripe now to look at price risk but it will require huge amount of resources in research, studies, and government intervention on which the only hope is to go ahead but with caution. Presentation by Prof. Gopal Naik, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore Prof. Naik started off his discussion with the remark that current farm income insurance should be used as an alternative to the existing risk management mechanism. As he further explained, when farm income insurance was first introduced, he himself was very closely involved in it and in fact he made the first presentation in the Prime Minister s Office. The requirement of that time was There was 60 million tonnes of foodgrains to tackle The cost of carrying these was INR 20,000 crores, because of which it was highly desirable to reduce the burden on the government in order to make sure that there is a less procurement for foodgrains and therefore alternative policy regimes could be thought of. 21

22 However, as he recalled, it did not have much importance in the next two years of droughts subsequent to the introduction of farm income insurance, due to which the government stocks were liquidated. Hence, Farm income insurance was casted off and other alternatives were looked for. He then posited that if the same situation, without the droughts, had continued in terms of stock building India probably would have continued with farm income insurance starting that time itself. Prof. Naik briefly explained how such insurance scheme can be implemented in the present times. He initiated his views on the new insurance scheme with the need for designing the scheme in the context of technology revolution and the infrastructure and other support sub-systems that we have today. He proposed, as a case, moving to a cost-plus income assurance level and using the one that can come up with a level of income that can be assured to the farmers. The plus could be anywhere form 0-15% depending on the situation and current stock of a commodity. He further emphasized the importance of better data collection while quoting Shri. Raj Kumar that for any of the insurance products to be introduced, the data integrity is of utmost importance. He then pointed towards a case study done by him in Karnataka where it was found that not only the survey number of the farmer is important but also every plot within the survey number hold a lot of significance. His team measured almost plots from one gram panchayat and showed in the study how government recorded data are different than what actually prevails on ground. Prof. Naik further emphasized that there is a need to treat the farm income insurance as one product among several product such as weather based crop insurance, MNAIS, etc. These serve different crop system and different areas, such as, in irrigated systems there is no need for yield insurance because yield is more or less stable. Hence, he mentioned that weather based insurance will be more useful where yields are highly related to a single weather parameter. Therefore, not only alternative insurance products should be developed but also other associated systems, e.g. data integrity, data collection systems, agricultural marketing system, warehousing system need to have full accountability. He showed an example of interrelationship between various activities in the farming in the form of agricultural extensions. He then exclaimed that if the extension is weak, the associated risk goes up, raising the level of insurance premium, due to which many farmers might not opt for such insurance scheme. Hence, unless other sub-systems in the agriculture sector have been taken care of, it will not be possible to make any insurance scheme a viable product. Prof. Naik then moved on to show an example in the form of his project where data from insurance sector and agriculture extensions i.e., information and input supply together 22

23 can be consolidated so as to reduce the systemic risk and help farmers in opting for appropriate insurance schemes as well as in improving the yield because of extension effectiveness. If, he mentioned while concluding his address, we are able to create a system where various interlocking contracts between insurance companies, input suppliers and extension agencies can be leveraged, we might be able to help farmers in selecting appropriate insurance scheme and reduce risk which will also help insurance companies in providing viable insurance schemes effortlessly and efficiently. Presentation by Mr. Mohini Mohan Mishra, National Secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh Mr. Mishra started off his discussion with a caution that about 42% farmers are ready to opt out of agriculture as of now. India has a population of 125 crore which needs to be fed and obviously import will also fall short of covering this huge population. He then rhetorically asked the way out of the increase of input costs and the unregulated markets. Hence, out of the several questions that may be asked today, as he declared in the direction of insurance schemes in place, one is how to insure mixed cropping option where different crops have different harvesting periods and acreages. Overall, he emphasized that there is a high diversity in terms of weather, crop patterns and soil content across the nation. Though the inputs from the farmers are homogenized from government s side in a way to aim towards assured income for farmers, he proposed to add the considerations of risk such as drought, flood and other factors in the minimum support price (MSP) which will obviate the need of insurance altogether, at least in major crops such as wheat, rice, etc. He further added that we can also include the option of announcing of government procurement twice, once after the harvesting season and secondly just before the next harvest, along with little monetary incentive in place to the farmers to save crops in their own storages and go-downs for the procurement before next harvest season, which will also help reduce the burden on the government warehouses. Mr. Mishra then highlighted a crop holiday in announced by the farmers on 1 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh, on which he remarked that the problem was related to lack of procurement and storage facilities from the farmer s side. He underlined the emergent need to think about the issue with the farmers side taken into consideration and the need to rethink about this issue from the point of view of every stakeholder. Because, ultimately what we want is the sustenance and satisfaction of the farmers from agricultural income. Mr. Mishra further supported the implementation of Dynamic Farmers Group as pointed out by 23

24 Shri. Raj Kumar to increase bargaining power of farmers but he claimed that the implementation of this initiative will mostly be successful in Gujarat, Maharashtra and contiguous areas and not in other parts of the country. He further proposed to enact direct fund transfer from Natural Disaster Funds to the affected farmers since most issues related to yield fluctuations are caused by natural disasters and calamities. Hence, insurance schemes aside, aforementioned steps can be taken towards reducing the challenges and issues in agriculture. Concluding Remarks by Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS, Additional Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India Dr. Dalip Singh, Secretary to Govt. of India, while concluding the panel discussion extended his gratitude to the organizers of the seminar and Shri. Raj Kumar, Principal Secretary, Govt. of Gujarat, for his enthusiastic support towards the topic of the seminar. He further thanked Mr. Kumar, especially for the invitation extended to Govt. of India and expressed his pleasure in attending the seminar. Dr. Singh started off with his views about the insurance schemes by summarizing that the participants of the seminar have talked about farmer insurance schemes where mostly the production is insured and if, in case of any unforeseen reason, the prices of certain produce rise up, current insurance mechanisms are not fully in place to tackle such issue. He further stated that in , the scheme Famers Income Insurance Scheme (FIIS) was incorporated, but was discontinued after 2-3 harvest seasons. The reason, he declared, was increasing difficulty in continuing with the scheme due to spike in insurance premiums and unpredictability of the agriculture commodity prices which has relations mostly with the demand and supply of the commodity and is almost independent of the farmers or the government consensus. He further showcased the enactment of a new scheme, Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) which was put forth in 2013 after taking into consideration past experiences and viewpoints of various states. MNAIS was put into operation across the nation except in 5 states, including Gujarat. He mentioned that the Central Government received suggestions from the other 5 states on which there was a meeting with Agriculture Secretaries from these states on 14 th of August, 2014, in which Shri. Raj Kumar was also present. Dr. Singh further asked the audience and the participants to first understand the novel and effective ideas put forward in the new scheme, MNAIS rather than figure out a completely new one. The high-level discussion, as he indicated, led to the 24

25 conclusion that the premium under MNAIS (5% - 10%) has been increased as compared to earlier scheme (1.5% - 3%), which he termed as understandable but to discard the scheme without considering its other merits will not be helpful in the long run. He emphasized the significance of MNAIS as a huge scheme in itself especially juxtaposed with over 25% of the Indian Government budget earmarked only for insurance schemes. In addition to the insurance premium paid by central and state governments in earlier schemes, the consideration or claims during any calamity also used to be paid by the central and state governments. In this backdrop, Dr. Singh expressed his satisfaction about the MNAIS that the regular insurance premium has to be paid by Govt. of India, the state governments and the farmers while the compensation and claims will be paid by the insurance companies, which now included private companies as empaneled by the central government. In conclusion, Dr. Singh underlined his belief that every stakeholder needs to work on the challenges of the MNAIS and then bring the modified version or if needed a new insurance product into the market. Question and Answer Session In the Q&A session, there were some suggestions from the farmers such as: When FCI procures certain product, INR are paid upfront during registration as the procurement charges, which means and increase in ultimate cost by this amount. Government should have a staggered purchase, such as incentivizing farmers for procurement after the harvest season such as in June for wheat (as opposed to the harvest time, i.e., April and May). There are two benefits of such staggered purchase increase in farmers income and creation of rural warehouse facility on a mass scale among groups of farmers. Another suggestion was to add 10-15% over the top of MSP (Minimum Support Price) since currently farmers have an incentive to involve themselves in managing and fudging the data collected by the insurance companies, which leads to the lack of reliability in such data. In addition, there is a need for policy actions to incorporate farmers consensus into consideration while allowing them income commensurate with their hard work. 25

26 Conclusion of the Panel Discussion The panel discussion was successful owing to emergence of a clear consensus among the participants. The importance of agriculture sector in India can be gauged by the fact that 50% of the population is dependent on this sector directly or indirectly for its livelihood. In addition, the food grains need of our country, given the population of 1.25 billion, can never be completely met by imports. Another contrasting fact among Indian farmers as opposed to other developed nations is that about 80% of the Indian farmers are small and marginal ones rendering the acreage highly fragmented. The numerous initiatives which have been formulated and subsequently operationalized to tackle the issue of assuring steady income for farmers include Kisan Credit Cards, Soil Health Cards, Farmers Producers Organization, facilities of accredited warehouses by Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority, Minimum Support Price, etc. However, with a perspective that all these initiatives have been limited in their penetration, there is a clear need felt for across the board agricultural insurance. Modified National Agricultural Scheme, which has come up to tackle and fill up the gaps in terms of farmers income was ratified by all but 5 states, including Gujarat, the primary reason for which was the increased rate of premiums as opposed to that in the insurance schemes in place earlier. The participants agreed to introducing measures so as to consolidate the farmers in some ways in order to increase their bargaining power in the market. Another direction where a clear consensus emerged was on the topic of data integrity. The data on which the government as well as the insurance companies base their rates, as Prof. Gopal Naik and Mr. Mohan Mishra affirmed were at odds with what actually prevailed on ground. Hence, the discussion had an undertone to evolve the solutions to the issues along the direction of yield insurance schemes in place, before venturing into the realm of price insurance. Another solution which emerged to tackle some of the problems related to existing insurance schemes was to incorporate staggered procurement by the government through Food Corporation of India, Ltd. with monetary incentive to the farmers for creating their own storage facilities. This not only will help reduce the burden on government warehouses, but also will strengthen the bargaining power of Dynamic Farmers Group, a term coined by Shri. Raj Kumar during the panel discussion. From the perspective of insurance companies, there was a palpable demand expressed for government support in bearing the cost of insurance both in terms of the premiums and the claims associated. Mr. James underlined the importance of understanding that prices have certain but unpredictable boom and bust cycles. Another salient opinion expressed from the insurance camp was that the systemic risks associated with the current yield insurance schemes in place, might be compounded due to the addition of risk associated with price insurance. Conclusively, all panel members were of the opinion to introduce some measures in the current agriculture market to boost the bargaining power of farmers using commodity market and social media. In addition, most reflected a need for not only understanding but 26

27 also tackling the issues with the current yield-based insurance programs in place, before moving on to evolve price-based insurance schemes. The discussion was made livelier with the cases of Farmer s holiday, Agricultural extensions, etc. introduced by the members and ended in a positive note for paving the way ahead for new Agriculture Insurance scheme. After the conclusion of Q&A session, memento was offered to the speakers:- Dr. S. R. Chaudhary, Director of Agriculture, Govt. of Gujarat honored Mr. B. S. Rahul, Deputy General Manager. Dr. N. K. Singh, MD, GAIC honored Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Govt. of Gujarat with a memento for his contribution towards the successful completion of the seminar. Dr. K. S. Detroja, Managing Director, Gujarat State Land Development Corporation Ltd. was called upon the stage to do the honor of felicitating Mr. Malay Kumar Poddar, Chief Financial Officer, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd., New Delhi. Mrs. K. B. Chaya, Joint Director of Agriculture was called upon the stage to do the honors for Ms. Harini Kannan, Head Agriculture amidst a round of applause. Mr. B. M. Modi, MD, BSSC was requested to do the honors of felicitating Mr. P. J. Joseph, Chairman and MD, Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. Mr. D. V. Barot, Addl. Director of Agriculture, Govt. of Gujarat was welcomed on stage to extend honor with a memento to Mr. P. C. James, Professor. Mr. S. J. Solanki, Joint Director of Agriculture, Junagadh Govt. of Gujarat was called upon the stage to do the honors for Prof. Gopal Naik, IIM Bangalore. Mr. K. S. Detroja, MD, GSLDC was called upon to felicitate Mr. Mohini Mohan Mishra, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, amidst a round of applause. Mr. Prakash Rabari, Joint Director of Agriculture, Government of Gujarat, was requested to felicitate Mr. Dalip Singh, Principal Secretary, Govt. of India, amidst a big round of applause. In order to conclude the seminar, Mr. N. K. Singh, MD, Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. was invited to the dais for the vote of thanks. 27

28 Vote of Thanks by Dr. N. K. Singh, Managing Director, Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Limited Dr. Singh concluded the seminar expressing his views on Farm Income Insurance. He regarded it as a complicated subject in which the major consideration should be to assure the income of the farmers after which the issue automatically would reduce to a much simpler problem. He highlighted Mr. Mishra s view on the issue in terms of stabilizing the minimum support price (MSP) or basically the farm income, rather than relying completely on the insurance industry for managing the challenges of agricultural sector. He specially thanked Shri. Radha Mohan Singh, Hon ble Union Minister of Agriculture and Smt. Anandiben Pater, Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat for gracing the event. He further expressed his gratitude towards Shri. Babubhai Bokhiria, Hon ble Agriculture Minister of Gujarat; Shri. Nanubhai Vanani, Hon ble Sports Minister of Gujarat; Shri. Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, Hon ble Minister of Education and Food & Civil supplies, Gujarat; Shri. Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Hon ble Minister of Law, Gujarat and Shri. Kantibhai Gamit, Hon ble Minister of Tribal development, Gujarat. He further thanked the participants from Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of India for showing their interest in the subject. He also thanked Representatives from Government of India, Secretaries of states Agriculture department, Directors of Marketing Boards and government & private insurance companies for their support. He also appreciated participation from nationalized banks, co-operative banks, Gramin Banks, farmers organization, APMCs, insurance policy experts, industry players and academicians. He also extended his gratitude towards Bhartiya Kisan Sangh and progressive farmers for the active participation. Appreciating the contribution of Dr. Dalip Singh, IAS, Additional Secretary of Agriculture, Government of India, he said that his guidance will surely help move forward in the right direction towards insuring farm income. Moving forward, Dr. Singh thanked the organizing committee from Agriculture and Cooperation Department for making this seminar such a huge success. Dr. Singh expressed special gratitude towards Shri. Raj Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat, for his constant support and guidance. He also extended his special thanks to the Knowledge Partner (KPMG) and Event Partner (Radeecal Communications) for their constant support. 28

29 Summarily, Dr. Singh emphasized that the aim should be to insure the income of the farmer and he extended the idea of farm income insurance as one of the tools for the assuring income of the farmers. Following the vote of thanks, the farmers were briefed about KCC (Kisan Credit Card) and the process of applying online for insurance was explained in detail by the representative from NIC (National Insurance Company). Way Forward The event concluded on a high note with an aim to work towards ensuring remunerative income of the farmers. The need of the framework for implementing the Farm Income Insurance Scheme was stressed upon. It was suggested that the bargaining power of the farmers can be increased through formation of Farmer Producers Organization (FPO) and Dynamic Farmers Groups. Learning from the experience of Pilot FIIS, it was emphasized that the new scheme should be implemented on group basis rather than on individual basis. It was indicated that the attempt should be such that the risks are borne equally by all the stakeholders. It was also suggested that the new Farm Income Insurance Scheme should be attractive enough to be accepted widely. And above all, it was emphasized that the aim should be more towards assuring famers income than insuring of farm income. 29