Farmer's signature made mandatory on crop-loss panchnamas, Agriculture Commissionerate tells officials

Drought-like conditions prevail in the state, and the Agriculture Department has begun panchnamas, or on-site damage assessments, of affected farmland across Maharashtra. The Agriculture Commissionerate has now sent a letter of instructions to agriculture officers across the state. The letter directs them to obtain the signature of the farmer concerned while conducting a crop panchnama. The signature is now mandatory. The department has also released the proforma for the purpose.

Under the first trigger, drought has been declared in 265 talukas of the state. The letter says that in these talukas, each farmer's Farmer ID, also known as the Agri Stack card, should be taken during the panchnama. For a farmer who does not have a Farmer ID, the Aadhaar card is to be accepted for the loss panchnama, the instructions add.

The letter also says the panchnama report is to be submitted to the Agriculture Commissionerate as soon as possible through the divisional commissioner concerned.

In the proforma released by the department, the farmer's name, the affected crop and the percentage of damage are to be entered. The Farmer ID or Aadhaar number and all details of the farmer's bank account are also to be filled in. Finally, the farmer's signature confirming completion of the panchnama has been made mandatory.

Farmers have suffered losses in earlier natural calamities too, and the Agriculture Department carried out panchnamas then as well. But those panchnamas drew allegations and counter-allegations. In many places, staff of the agriculture and revenue departments would sit at one spot in the village and get the panchnamas done. Farmers were unhappy because officials did not visit every farm.

This year, however, the drought is severe and farmers are in distress. The Agriculture Commissionerate therefore sent this letter, with a proforma attached, to agriculture department offices across the state only two days ago. It appears to be an important change this year. The last column of the proforma makes it mandatory to take the signature of the farmer whose land has been assessed. This should bring some transparency to the panchnama process, and farmers are welcoming the decision.