The number of farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is projected to touch a record 40 million in 2023-24, a 27% increase from the 31.5 million enrolled in the previous year, an agriculture ministry official on Tuesday.
He said that out of projected farmers likely to enroll in the both kharif and rabi season of 2023-24, about 40-42% are likely to those who had not availed loans from the banks.
“The crop insurance scheme is gradually moving towards a subscription-based model rather than a loan-based scheme,” Ritesh Chauhan, CEO, PMFBY said at the launch of the manual for the weather information network and data system (WINDS), being implemented under the revamped PMFBY.
In 2022-23, out of 31.5 million farmers enrolled, 39% were non-loanee farmers.
In terms of area, coverage of heavily subsidised crop insurance scheme is likely to touch 60 million hectare in 2023-24, which is an increase of around 21% from the 2022-23. Chauhan noted that many states Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Meghalaya and Puducherry have opted for universalisation of crop insurance scheme which implies that state government bears the cost farmers’ premium.
Chauhan said that in the current year 2023-24, the crop insurance could have the highest enrollment, highest area coverage and lowest premium rates.
Under the PMFBY which is currently being implemented in 22 states and union territories, the premium to be paid by farmers is fixed at just 1.5% of the sum insured for rabi crops and 2% for kharif crops, while it is 5% for cash crops.
The balance premium is equally shared amongst the Centre and states and in case of North-Eastern states, the premium is split between the Centre and states in a 9:1 ratio.
It is optional for the farmers to opt for PMFBY. The centre has provided Rs 13,625 crore in the current fiscal for implementation of crop insurance scheme.
Several insurance companies both the public and private sectors, are implementing crop insurance launched in 2016.
The WINDS portal launched on Tuesday integrates weather forecasts, historical data, and predictive analytics to offer real-time insights into weather patterns.
It aims at creating a national-level network of automatic weather stations and rain gauges and creating a platform for generation of long-term hyper local weather data information for crop insurance, agriculture advisory and disaster risk resilience needs.