Indian farmers in the face of climate change, Are we ready for this?
Climate change is the most hazardous threat to farmers in countries like India. It hit hard on small and medium scale farmers anything like drought, hailstorms and floods.
To make things a little more alarming, statistics prove that most of Indian farmers are not covered by insurance and all do not receive relief for crop damage. Yet, figures show that these payouts averaged about Rs24,000 crore per year between 2014-15 and 2016-17.
The Economic Survey in 2017 pointed out that India incurs losses of about Rs 62,000 crore per annum due to extreme weather events. And, farmers received Rs 71,124 crore as insurance payouts and relief for crop loss due to climate events like drought, floods and hailstorms in just three years between 2014-15 and 2016-17.
The most vulnerable state in India was Maharashtra, where farmers received Rs16,330 crore in relief and insurance payouts per annum. In 2016-17, farmers received a staggering Rs18,512 crore in payouts and relief due to erratic rainfall distribution. But, considering the fact that the total economic loss to agriculture could be many times higher, the question is, "are we really ready for this?"
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