Shopian, Feb 16: FIL Group of Industries in collaboration with HDFC Ergo is launching crop insurance for apples in the Shopian and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir.
Authorities of FIL industries said the insurance will be available to almost all apple-producing zones of these two districts. They said the aim of launching this insurance scheme is to help orchardists in Shopian and Pulwama secure their apple crop against uncertainties of the climate.
A marketing official of FIL Industries, Ashutosh Pandey, revealed that the insurance will be launched on March 01, 2024. “The scheme will be in effect from March 01 to August 31, 2024,” he said, adding that it has been seen that apple crop is mostly affected by weather changes during this period.
Pandey said that the insurance will cover excess rainfall, scanty rainfall and high temperatures. He explained, “When excess rainfall or maximum temperature will cross a particular limit or rainfall will be less than a particular value it will be deemed that these factors have hit the trigger and an insurance claim will be generated.”
“The beauty of this scheme is that the claim will be generated automatically based on IMD data,” he said, adding that the insurance amount will be directly transferred into the account of the orchardist without doing any paperwork.
The official said their executive teams will reach apple orchardists in Shopian and Pulwama with an application form. The teams will help them in completing formalities for availing of the scheme.
He further informed that the apple orchardist will have to submit an application form along with documents authenticating their identity, address and land holding. The details will be shared with HDFC Ergo for online registration of farmers, he said.