Sweet lime growers in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region are reporting repeated crop losses due to erratic weather and prolonged delays in insurance settlements. Farmers in the citrus-producing zones of Nagpur district have raised concerns about the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), claiming that compensation requests are often rejected or delayed without explanation.
The RWBCIS, introduced in 2016 and extended until the 2025–26 season with an allocation of about US$8.35 billion, is designed to protect farmers from weather-related crop losses. However, growers say that payments are neither transparent nor timely.
A farmer from Narasingi village said he paid about US$60 in 2023 to insure his 50-tonne sweet lime crop. After hailstorms damaged yields, his claim was rejected. "We never receive any message or reason for rejection. It's like the claim just disappears," he said.
Many producers in Vidarbha have shifted from oranges to sweet lime in recent years, as the crop uses 40–50% less water and tolerates semi-arid conditions better. Maharashtra, India's second-largest sweet lime producer after Andhra Pradesh, harvested around 944,000 tonnes from 77,700 hectares in 2023–24.
Weather variability remains a major constraint. Heatwaves, droughts, and irregular monsoons continue to affect citrus orchards. During the 2019 drought, around 60% of Vidarbha's orange trees were destroyed, causing estimated losses of US$194 million. The region now experiences temperatures of up to 48°C and averages about 705 millimetres of annual rainfall, well below the national mean.
An agricultural scientist from the Government Agriculture College, Chaurai, said weather shifts have disrupted flowering cycles and increased pest incidence. "Earlier, citrus trees flowered regularly every season. Now, even with good irrigation, one season produces while the next completely fails," he explained.
Farmer participation in the RWBCIS has declined sharply. In 2018, about 115,000 farmers insured crops valued at nearly US$14.5 billion. By 2024, only 48,519 farmers remained enrolled. In Nagpur district, enrolment fell from 2,387 to 753, with no claims reportedly paid in 2024.
Growers have called for faster and more transparent claim processing. "When crops fail, farmers need money immediately to prepare for the next season. If a 2022 claim is paid in 2025, it loses all meaning," said another farmer.
With intensifying heat stress, water shortages, and limited access to insurance relief, citrus growers in Vidarbha are questioning the long-term sustainability of sweet lime cultivation in the region.
Source: Global Agriculture
