Dhaka, Feb. 28 -- Towhidul Islam, a marginal farmer in Godagari municipal area under Rajshahi, lost almost all his Aman crop in 2023 due to excessive rainfall from mid-October to early November.

He got only five maunds of paddy against his expectation of 25 maunds. But, he did not consume the rice for having black rust on it.

Mr Islam not only lost the rice he needed for feeding his five-member family, but also money worth Tk 200,000 invested to cultivate 15 bighas of land.

Around five years back, he was involved with a weather-index-based crop insurance scheme and at that time any loss due to unpredictable weather used to be compensated by the insurer.

The insurance scheme was piloted by the state-owned Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC...