Fasal Bima yojana

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) 

This scheme was introduced in India by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, New Delhi during the Kharif 2016 season. 

Kharif 18 and Rabi 18 are under process, that have closed the first 3 seasons with a gross premium amount of Rs.1804 Crores collected from 35,22,616 farmers and claims to the tune of Rs.1703 crores were paid, by which 17,66,455 no of farmers benefited, which shows almost 50% of the farmers insured were benefitted.

There are two schemes under the given operational Guidelines.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

Revised Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) 

The objective of the Schemes

  1. Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) focuses on providing and supporting sustainable production in the agriculture sector by:
  2. Providing financial support to farmers suffering from any type of crop loss/damage.
  3. Stabilizing the income of farmers to make sure that they can continue farming.
  4. Aware farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
  5. Ensuring the proper capital to the agriculture sector which will contribute to food security, crop diversification and developing the growth of the agriculture sector leads to protecting farmers from production risks.

Who can be covered?

All farmers who have been taken Seasonal Agricultural Operations Crop Loans from any financial institutions for the notified crop season would be mandatorily covered.

The Scheme is optional for non-loanee farmers.

The insurance coverage will strictly be according to the information provided on the Insurance Portal and based on crop sown area for notified crop and season.

How to enrol the farmers in the Scheme?

Farmers who are eligible need to be enrolled in the National Crop Insurance Portal(NCIP). Banks that are lending Seasonal Crop Loans to the farmers will be managed and asked to upload the data in the NCIP.

In the case of Non-loanee farmers, Intermediaries, Common Service Centers (CSCs), farmers on their own and some other Agencies are allowed to upload the data in the NCIP, along with the uploading required documents.

The premium must be paid through NEFT only. Similarly offline applications for enrollment are not accepted as every application needs to be filled in online on the given portal.

Coverage of Crops

  1. Food crops (Cereals, Millets and Pulses),
  2. Oilseeds
  3. Annual Commercial / Annual Horticultural crops.

And some other crops which are seasonal and for these details must have to submit during the application.

Coverage of Risks and Exclusions under PMFBY Scheme:

Following are the crop and conditions that need to be covered under the Scheme. 

  1. Prevented Sowing/Planting/Germination Risk: The coverage will be provided if the crop failure occurred at the time of planting or growing the crop.
  2. Standing Crop (Sowing to Harvesting): Insurance will be provided to cover the losses due to non-preventable risks, viz. Drought, Dry spell, Flood, Inundation, widespread Pests and Disease attack
  3. Post-Harvest Losses: Insurance will be provided until 2 weeks of crop loss after the harvest or after cutting.
  4. Localized Calamities: Loss/damage to be covered if the crops are damaged from the occurrence of localized risks of Hailstorm, Landslide, Inundation, etc.
  5. Add-on coverage for crop loss due to attack by wild animals
  6. General Exclusions: Losses that arise out of war and nuclear risks, malicious damage and other preventable risks shall be excluded.