Under PMFBY 26.5% Farmers Sought Coverage

New Delhi: The agriculture ministry has said, to help farmers insure their crops against natural calamities has provided coverage to 366.64 lakh farmers (26.50%), during the 2016 kharif season, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) launched.

For both kharif and rabi seasons in 2016-17, the ministry expects the scheme to exceed the target of 30% coverage. The ministry said, the scheme covers 388.62 lakh hectare with sum insured of Rs 1, 41,339 crore. Since two existing insurance schemes were not meeting the full requirements of farmers for insurance coverage, the scheme was recast as a new scheme by the government.

Ministry also said, “The performance this season has improved by 18.50% in terms of farmers coverage, 15% in terms of area coverage and 104% in terms of sum insured in comparison to Kharif 2015, which happened to be one of the worst drought affected seasons when the number of farmers covered was 309 lakh (22.33%), total area coverage was 339 lakh hectare and sum insured was Rs 69,307 crore.”

In coverage of non-loanee farmers, there has been a jump of more than six times from 14.88 lakh in kharif 2015 to 102.6 lakh in kharif 2016, hence the scheme has been well received by non-loanee segment.

The statement said, “Another significant achievement in this season has been 104% enhancement in sum insured. As the scheme mandates that the sum insured must be equal to the scale of finance and therefore, reflects better risk coverage of farmers in comparison to earlier schemes, this was made possible.”

The notification of the scheme was delayed in many states as the states did the bidding process for selection of the insurance companies for concerned clusters for the first time, said the ministry.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/