‘Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Yojana’ – A Support System for Farmers

Natural calamities often create significant challenges in agriculture. Due to issues like untimely rain, drought, and crop diseases, farmers are unable to harvest the expected yield, leading to substantial financial losses. To address these concerns, the government has introduced crop insurance to protect farmers. This scheme has been beneficial for farmers across the state. Initially, farmers had to pay a portion of the insurance premium themselves. However, the state government has now made crop insurance available for just one rupee, providing much-needed relief to farmers.

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is being implemented in the state in line with Central Government guidelines, ensuring financial stability for farmers facing crop damage. Under this scheme, farmers are required to pay only 2 percent of the insurance premium for normal crops and 5 percent for cash crops. To further ease the burden, the state government has introduced the All-Inclusive Crop Insurance Scheme, effective from the Kharif season of 2023. This allows farmers to register on the Crop Insurance Portal by paying just one rupee without the added cost of the insurance premium.

Benefit to 96.44 lakh Farmers in Kharif 2023

In Kharif 2023, over 1.71 crore farmers in the state were enrolled in the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme. Out of this, 96.44 lakh farmers have received a total insurance payout of ₹5,261.05 crores. For Kharif 2024, 14 crops, including paddy, sorghum, soybean, cotton, tur, moong, urad, maize, millet, ragi, groundnut, sesame, kale, and onion, are covered under the scheme.

Objectives of the Scheme

• To provide financial protection to farmers in case of crop loss due to unforeseen events such as natural disasters, pests, and diseases.
• To maintain the financial stability of farmers even during extreme crop loss.
• To encourage the use of innovative and improved farming techniques and inputs.
• To ensure continuous credit flow to the agriculture sector, ensuring food security, crop diversification, and dynamic growth.

Risk Factors for Kharif and Rabi Seasons

• Losses due to adverse weather conditions preventing sowing or planting (Prevented Sowing/Planting/Germination).
• Damage due to unfavorable weather conditions during the growing season (Mid-Season Adversity).
• Losses caused by natural disasters like fire, lightning, hailstorms, storms, cyclones, floods, or waterlogging from sowing to harvest (Yield-Based Claim).
• Localized natural calamities causing crop damage (Localized Calamities).
• Post-harvest losses due to natural causes (Post-Harvest Losses).

Crops Covered:

• Kharif Season (14 Crops): Rice, Sorghum, Bajra, Ragi, Maize, Tur, Moong, Urad, Groundnut, Soybean, Sesame, Kale, Cotton, Onion.
• Rabi Season (6 Crops): Summer Rice, Wheat, Rabi Sorghum, Gram, Summer Groundnut, Rabi Onion.

Participation:

All farmers growing the notified crops in the designated areas are eligible to participate in the scheme. It remains voluntary for both borrower and non-borrower farmers.

Risk Coverage:

A risk level of 70 percent is applicable for all crops.

Insurance Premium and Subsidy:

Farmers are required to pay an insurance premium of 2 percent of the sum insured for Kharif crops, 1.5 percent for Rabi crops, and 5 percent for cash crops, or the actual rate, whichever is lower. According to revised central government guidelines, the government will subsidize a portion of the premium: 30 percent for dryland districts and 25 percent for irrigated districts.

Sum Insured:

The insurance cover is crop-specific, and for both loanee and non-loanee farmers, it is capped at the loan limit per hectare.