AIC to bring more commodities under insurance net

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Bangalore, Mar 27: Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC), the Union government’s exclusive entity for agriculture insurance, is likely to bring more commodities under the insurance net in near future, a top official of AIC said.

Talking to FE after launching an insurance package for coffee growers in Bangalore recently, AIC chief manager K Nageswara Rao said that more spices and plantation crops would be brought under specific insurance coverage in near future. Rao said, “We are working with various commodity boards in this connection.” He said that AIC was studying various crops to cover under special insurance package.

AIC is likely to prepare insurance packages based on the report filed by the task force constituted by the Central government to study over plantation and spices sector in 2006. The report prepared by the task force identified some important crops like rubber, tea, coffee, tobacco, chilly, ginger, turmeric, pepper and cardamom for risk insurance.

Floriculture was also one of the segments recommended by the task force for insurance cover. Currently, Rao said that AIC is in talks with the Rubber Board. He said that rubber is a perennial crop and yield loss is one dimension of production risk. The other dimension is the loss of the tree itself due to natural calamity. Currently some public sector insurance companies are providing insurance for rubber, he added, but he said it is very rudimentary and not a full coverage.