Agriculture Insurance In Tamil Nadu

The livelihood of a large proportion of the world's rural poor is dependent on agriculture and it is the main source of income for them. It is a well known fact that weather is an important factor in agriculture, which is uncontrollable. Agriculture in the tail-end Cauvery delta region is predominantly dependent on monsoon and most of the farmers in this region are resource poor small and marginal farmers. Any deficit or surplus rain may have adverse impact on agriculture and livelihood of the farmers. Farmers without savings would be left with no money to invest in the next crop season and likely to be driven to non-institutional high interest loans and fall in the trap of the 'vicious circle' of poverty. In such a scenario, it is necessary to have a mechanism like agriculture insurance which would enable them to transfer their agricultural risks to a third party. However, crop failure sometimes may act as a push factor to go for some other survival strategies which neither supports the livelihood of the farmers nor is conducive for the growth of agriculture economy.