Extreme weather conditions and natural disasters cause tremendous losses to the agriculture sector

26-Jun-2024 02:41 PM

New Delhi. A recent survey report has revealed that due to extreme weather conditions and natural disasters in the country, at least a good crop of more than 50 percent of small and marginal farmers is destroyed in the fields.

These natural disasters include unseasonal rains, excessive rains, prolonged cold or germ weather, drought, severe heat and floods etc.

In this survey, more than 6600 marginal farmers were surveyed, who were selected from a huge panel of farmers at the all-India level.

The first phase of the survey was conducted in the year 2023 and the participants were selected on the basis of the area of ​​cultivable land they had. Samples were taken from 21 provinces of the country.

According to official data, farmers holding up to 1 hectare of land are considered to be of the category of marginal farmers,

in which the farmer either works as a landowner or grows crops in partnership or on rent (lease). Marginal farmers are the largest segment of Indian agriculture but they have access to only 24% of the total cultivable land. The average cultivable land area per farmer in this segment is estimated to be just 0.38 hectares.

The damage to crops during extreme weather conditions was assessed in detail. The cumulative trend of the last five years shows that more than one-third to 50% of farmers have suffered crop losses due to natural calamities.

More than 50% of rice growers and about 40% of wheat growers have faced crop failures regularly in the last five years. For other crops also, 45 to 65% of farmers have suffered heavy losses.