Department of Agricultural Economics, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145, Uttarakhand
*Corresponding author: deepalichadha6989@gmail.com
Online published on 22 February, 2021.
Dependence of agriculture on monsoon makes it a risky venture and is the root cause of agricultural crisis and farmers’ suicides in the country. Around 42.4 thousand farmers and daily wagers committed suicide in 2019 registering an increase of nearly 6% compared to previous year. Different approaches have been evolved; wherein adoption of a robust crop insurance system is one such mechanism that cushions the shock of crop loss by assuring protection to farmers against natural hazards which are beyond their control. The present study attempts to analyze the growth performance and variability of two most important crop insurance schemes of India; NAIS (1999-2000 to 2015-16) and WBCIS (2007-08 to 2015-16). The results revealed that positive growth rates have been observed for all the aspects under both the schemes during the period of their implementation. For NAIS, maximum growth rate as well as instability index is reported as 26.11% 79.62% for claims paid to the farmers. The compound annual growth rates computed for number of farmers insured, area insured, sum insured, gross premium, farmers’ premium, gross premium collected and number of farmers benefitted were reported as 10.43, 8.98, 21.49, 23.25, 23.1 and 13.93%, respectively. On the other hand, for WBCIS, the highest CAGR of 65.07 per cent was found for the number of farmers benefitted from the scheme whereas the highest instability index has been reported as 40.80 per cent in case of sum insured. The compound growth rates for number of farmers insured, area insured, sum insured, farmers’ premium, gross premium collected and claims paid have been calculated as 50.48, 44.19, 41.82, 58.67, 47.85 and 57.32 %, respectively.
