An analysis on Problems in implementing NAIS (National Agriculture Insurance Scheme) with special reference to Erode Block

Agriculture is considered to be the backbone of the India Economy. In developing countries like India, agriculture has been crucial sector due to its perceived ability to contribute significantly to achieve the developmental objectives. Agriculture in India is characterized by low productivity, lack of technology, under employment, etc., Normally agriculture production implies an unexpected outcome or yield. Variability in outcomes from expected those which are expected poses risks (Harwood et al 1999). Generally the farmers produce the agriculture products under the condition of risky environment. The decisions taken by the farmers are not know with certainty and the results may be better or worse than the expectation. Crop insurance is the best solution to compensate the loss of farmers arising from the field. The ongoing National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) serves as a good step to insure the risks of millions of farmers. However, crop insurance inherent major problems as only about 10% of sown area and suffers from adverse claims to premium. There are problems with both the design and delivery of crop insurance schemes. So the present paper focus on identifying the problems that exists in implementing NAIS in three firka from Erode blocks viz., Erode East, Erode North and Erode West. The study is conducted by interviewing 300 farmers in selected blocks using a prepared questionnaire. The aim is to know the awareness of NAIS among farmers and the issues in executing the agriculture insurance scheme. The data collected through the primary method is analyzed with the help of tools like percentage analysis, ANOVA, Chi-Square, correlation and Garrets Ranking Technique. The main problems that the farmer is facing in execution of the NAIS are delay in payment of claim amount, crop coverage and premium rate. It is also revealed that there is significant difference between the variables like educational levels of farmers with respect to availing of NAIS, borrowing amount and availing NAIS, borrowing amount and experience of farmer's in farming and borrowing amount and farmer's category.