NEW DELHI: In response to the current climate crisis and the rapid advancement of technology, the Ministry of Agriculture is willing to make modifications to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) that are beneficial to farmers.

Manoj Ahuja, secretary of agriculture and farmers' welfare, stated that it is crucial to safeguard the nation's vulnerable farming community from the whims of nature because farming is directly susceptible to such climatic calamities.
To give Indian farmers adequate insurance protection, he continued, "crop insurance demand is anticipated to rise, and as a result, we need to place much greater emphasis on crop and other types of rural/agricultural insurance products."

Ahuja noted that the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified NAIS were preceded by the PMFBY, which was introduced in 2016 and brought with it comprehensive coverage of all crops and risks from the pre-sowing to post-harvest period.
The crop loss notification period for farmers was increased from 48 to 72 hours, he said, keeping in mind that damage signatures vanish or are lost in the event of localised calamities after 72 hours. This was one of many new fundamental features that were added during its revision in 2018, he said.

In a similar vein, after being revamped in 2020, the programme offered voluntary enrollment and add-on coverage for wildlife assault, making it even more farmer-friendly.

It must be noted that after resolving their issues, Andhra Pradesh rejoined the scheme beginning in July 2022, and it is anticipated that the other states are also considering joining the scheme to provide comprehensive coverage to their respective farmers. The officer further clarified that some states have opted out of the scheme primarily due to their inability to pay their state share of the premium subsidy due to financial constraints.

Ahuja went into detail regarding the contribution of the federal and state governments to the premium, pointing out that over the course of the last six years, farmers have only contributed Rs 25,186 crore, while the federal and state governments have paid out Rs 1,25,662 crore to farmers in response to their claims.

Notably, over the past six years, farmers have become more accepting of the programme, with the percentage of non-loanee, marginalised, and small farmers rising by 282 percent since the program's inception in 2016, the Secretary of Agriculture said.

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