Context :- The Union Agriculture Ministry has approved new modalities to compensate farmers for crop loss due to wild animal attacks and paddy inundation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Key Policy Update :
1. Wild Animal Attack: Added as ‘Localised Risk’
- Recognised as the 5th Add-on Cover under the Localised Calamities category of PMFBY.
- States must:
1. Notify the list of wild animals causing crop damage.
2. Identify vulnerable districts/insurance units using historical data.
- Farmers must report losses within 72 hours via the Crop Insurance App with geotagged photos.
- New provisions effective from Kharif 2026.
2. Paddy Inundation: Paddy crops damaged due to excessive waterlogging/inundation will now be explicitly recognised for compensation, addressing a long-standing farmer demand.
About Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
- Launch & Authority: Launched on February 18, 2016, under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’ Welfare (Ministry of Agriculture).
- Mandate: To provide cost-effective crop insurance protection against non-preventable natural risks, implemented via a network of insurance companies and financial institutions.
Strategic Objectives :
- Financial Security: To extend financial support to farmers suffering crop loss due to unforeseen calamities (e.g., pests, diseases, natural disasters).
- Income Stability: To stabilize farm incomes, ensuring the continuity of agricultural operations.
- Modernization: To incentivize the adoption of innovative and modern agricultural practices.
- Sectoral Growth: To ensure creditworthiness, encourage crop diversification, and enhance the overall competitiveness of the agriculture sector.
Eligibility and Enrollment Framework
- Target Demographics: Open to all farmers, including sharecroppers and tenant farmers, cultivating notified crops in notified areas.
- Enrollment Protocols:
- Compulsory Basis: Mandatory for farmers availing Seasonal Agricultural Operations (SAO) loans (Loanee farmers) for notified crops.
- Voluntary Basis: Optional for non-loanee farmers.
- Documentation: Farmers must possess valid land ownership documents or land tenure agreements and demonstrate an insurable interest.
- Inclusivity Mandate: Specific focus on maximizing coverage for SC/ST and women farmers, with budget allocations proportional to landholdings in respective state clusters.
- Non-Duplication: Farmers must not have received compensation for the same loss from other sources.
Key Features and Benefits
- Differential Premium Structure:
- Kharif Crops: Maximum 2% payable by the farmer.
- Rabi Crops: Maximum 1.5% payable by the farmer.
- Commercial/Horticultural Crops: Maximum 5% payable by the farmer.
- Subsidy Mechanism: The balance premium is subsidized by the government. For North-Eastern and Hill states (J&K, Himachal Pradesh), the government bears the full premium burden.
Comprehensive Coverage:
- Inclusions: Covers yield losses due to non-preventable risks such as drought, flood, pests, and diseases. Includes post-harvest losses arising from local perils like hailstorms and landslides.
- Exclusions: Losses due to war, nuclear risks, and malicious damage are outside the scope of coverage.
Technological Integration:
- NCIP: The National Crop Insurance Portal digitizes the workflow between farmers, insurers, and banks.
- Assessment Tools: Deployment of YES-TECH (Yield Estimation System) for remote sensing-based estimation and CROPIC for geotagged photographic evidence to ensure precision.
- Claim Settlement: Targeted processing of claims within two months of harvest to prevent debt traps.
