Abid Bashir
Srinagar, May 23: In a major announcement for the farming community grappling with repeated weather-related losses, J&K’s Agriculture Minister Javed Ahmad Dar on Saturday said the government is likely to implement a long-awaited crop insurance scheme across the Union Territory within the next two months.
The minister also assured immediate assistance to farmers and orchardists whose crops were damaged in the recent hailstorms that battered several districts of the Kashmir Valley, leaving large tracts of orchards and agricultural land devastated.
Speaking to reporters in the Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Dar said teams from the Revenue, Agriculture and Horticulture departments had already been deputed to affected areas to carry out a comprehensive assessment of losses.
“The department has been trying since yesterday to reach every affected area and conduct assessments. Once the final survey is completed, relief will be provided to the affected farmers and growers,” he said.
The recent spell of intense hailstorms has caused widespread concern among cultivators, particularly apple growers, many of whom fear severe financial setbacks ahead of the harvesting season. Several orchardists in north and central Kashmir reported extensive damage to fruit crops, vegetables and standing agricultural produce.
Amid growing demands for a permanent safety mechanism for the farming sector, Dar said the government was expediting the process for launching a “comprehensive crop insurance scheme” aimed at shielding farmers from climate-induced losses.
According to the minister, the tendering and bidding process for the scheme is set to commence from June 1, and the formal rollout is expected within one-and-a-half to two months.
He said the government had already earmarked funds for the scheme in the budget and that the insurance premium would be jointly borne by the Government of India, the Jammu and Kashmir administration and the farmers themselves.
Officials believe the move could prove crucial in providing financial security to thousands of farmers and orchardists increasingly vulnerable to erratic weather patterns, unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms linked to changing climatic conditions.
On the horticulture front, Dar said the administration was also in touch with the Centre regarding a market intervention scheme for C-grade apples, a long-pending demand of fruit growers in Kashmir.
He revealed that a team from NITI Aayog had visited Jammu and Kashmir around two months ago, during which detailed discussions were held regarding the fixation of support prices for low-grade apples in order to prevent distress sales and ensure better returns to growers.
Addressing concerns over delays in extending insurance coverage to apple crops, the minister clarified that horticulture comes under a separate weather-based crop insurance framework. He added that both apples and saffron had now been incorporated into the proposed insurance model for Kashmir.
Dar said successive attempts had been made over the years to introduce the insurance scheme in Jammu and Kashmir, but the process repeatedly ran into hurdles due to inadequate participation by insurance companies during the tendering stage.
“Last year also, the process was almost finalised, but the Government of India revised the insurance policy framework, which forced us to issue fresh tenders,” he said.
The minister expressed optimism that the revised process would now move forward smoothly and culminate in the successful implementation of the scheme, offering long-term protection to farmers and growers against mounting weather and climate-related risks.
The proposed insurance cover is being seen as a significant step towards strengthening the resilience of Jammu and Kashmir’s agriculture and horticulture sectors, which remain the backbone of the region’s rural economy and livelihood.