The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock
Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne, answering for the Minister, outlined the agricultural insurance framework, identifying three main categories: crop, livestock and general insurance, including the National Crop Insurance Scheme for selected crops, loan-linked and voluntary crop insurance, and cover for equipment, health, accidents, warehouses and movable assets. He listed a wide range of covered crops and provided annual compensation figures for crop damage from 2015 to January 2025, with funding for the national scheme coming from the State Budget and the Crop Insurance Levy Fund, while other schemes are premium-funded. He said proposed measures to strengthen the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board include expanding contributory schemes, improving financial stability, digitizing damage assessment and compensation, equipping field officers, using modern loss-monitoring technologies and introducing market-responsive insurance products.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Answering on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation:
¶ 02 (a) (i) Main categories: three. (ii) Insurance coverages: - Crop Insurance: 1. National Crop Insurance Scheme (NCIS) for paddy, big onion, potato, chili and soya with government contribution. 2. Crop Loan Insurance Schemes covering crops financed under loan schemes. 3. Voluntary Crop Insurance Schemes (premium-based) for all crops as per market demand. - Livestock Insurance Schemes. - General Insurance Schemes: - Agricultural equipment insurance. - Health insurance for farmers. - Personal accident insurance for farmers. - Warehouse insurance for agro storage. - Movable assets insurance including 2-wheel and 4-wheel tractors and other movable assets.
¶ 03 (iii) Crops covered (illustrative): - Field crops: paddy, big onion, potato, chili, soya. - Other field crops: cowpea, green gram, sesame, kurakkan, cashew, gingelly. - Vegetables and tubers: sweet potato, manioc, ginger, beet, cabbage, carrot, leeks, red onion, brinjal, okra, beans, capsicum, tomato, bitter gourd, pumpkin. - Fruits: pineapple, papaya, banana. - Other/export/spice crops: turmeric, cinnamon, pepper, etc. - Plantation: rubber, bamboo. - Ornamentals and nurseries.
¶ 04 (b) (i) Compensation paid for crop damages (LKR million): 2015: 1,096; 2016: 386; 2017: 5,633; 2018: 2,957; 2019: 2,157; 2020: 1,900; 2021: 1,639; 2022: 701; 2023: 2,122; 2024: 1,794; 2025 (Jan): 86.
¶ 05 (ii) Funding: - NCIS is funded via the State Budget. For NCIS compensation, the first Rs. 10,000 per acre is from the Crop Insurance Levy Fund maintained under the National Insurance Trust Fund; the balance up to the maximum Rs. 40,000 per acre is provided as budgetary allocations to the Board. - Other schemes are funded by premiums collected from insured parties.
¶ 06 (iii) Measures to strengthen the Board: - Enhance schemes with combined farmer and State contribution; ensure financial stability and enroll farmers to pension-type schemes. - Digitize crop-damage assessment and compensation processes; digitize all internal processes; equip field officers with devices; adopt modern technologies for loss monitoring; introduce new products aligned with market needs.
¶ 07 (c) Not applicable.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 7 February 2025 ·No. 1739786070060795 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 February 2025. No. 1739786070060795. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/22986