ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary body, on Friday, recommended reviewing definitions of calamity-hit area as well as small farmers in order to ensure provision of maximum insurance coverage to small farmers in case of loss due to natural calamity in any part country.

Gulzar Khan, convener of the sub-committee of special committee on agriculture, asked the concerned authorities to present their suggestion before the committee with respect to digitization and mapping of deserving farmers in the country. “I think there is no insurance for farmers in the country and only a small chunk of loaning insurance available to few farmers”, he said.

MNA Malik Muhammad Ehsan Ullah Tiwana said that digitization and mapping of deserving farmers in the country would encourage insurance companies for investment in the agriculture sector. He also suggested revisiting definitions of calamity-hit areas and small farmers. “The data of deserving small farmers be collected like the deserving people identified for Ehsaas programme,” he said. He said that according to present rules, the administration declares those areas calamity affected where 70 percent of standing crops of a total moza destroyed by rain, hail storm or another calamity, which must be revised because when a calamity completely destroys crop of one or two farmers or less than 70 percent in a moza then the farmers whose crops are completely destroyed did not get relief.

A senior official of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) said that his organization can provide data regarding calamity-hit areas but fund will be required for it as we buy data.

Aamir Khan, chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), while briefing the committee about the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) said that the NFIS was launched in 2015 by the government with the main objective to safeguard nine million farm households in case of loss of crops due to natural calamities and disasters. He said that the Ministry of Commerce constituted the NCIS task force head by the SECP. The task force held its first meeting in March 2020 and finalized report on proposed NCIS on February 5, 2021. He further said that Crop Loan Insurance Scheme (CLIS) was launched in 2008 with the assistance of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021