Ministry’s Efforts to Strengthen Agricultural Insurance: Latest Developments in PMFBY
Government of India is committed to the welfare of farmers. It is implementing various central sector and centrally sponsored schemes covering entire spectrum of agriculture for the welfare of farmers in the country. The details of new initiatives launched to support farmers during last few years are given in the Annexure.
Price Support Scheme (PSS) under the umbrella scheme of PM-AASHA for procurement of notified oil seeds, pulses and copra directly from pre-registered farmers conforming to the prescribed Fair Average Quality (FAQ) norms by Central Nodal Agencies through the State level agencies at Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the Govt. as and when prices fall below the MSP during the harvesting period. This scheme is implemented at the request of the concerned State Government / Union Territories which agrees to exempt the procured commodities from levy of mandi tax and assist Central Nodal Agencies in logistic arrangements, including gunny bags, working capital for state agencies, creation of revolving fund for PSS operations, etc. as required under the scheme guidelines
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) along with weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) is being implemented since Kharif 2016. These schemes are being implemented on area approach basis for wide-spread calamities like drought, flood etc., which affect large area. Under this scheme, the maximum premium payable by the farmers is 2% for all Kharif Food & Oilseeds crops, 1.5% for Rabi Food and Oilseeds crops and 5% for Annual Commercial/Horticultural Crops and the difference between Actuarial premium and the rate of Insurance charges payable by farmers is shared equally in 50:50 ratio by the Centre and States/UTs in all States/UTs. In North-Eastern Region (NER) from 2020 and Hilly States/UTs from 2023 the ratio between Centre and States/UTs is 90:10. A Krishi Rakshak Portal and Helpline (KRPH) Toll-Free No. 14447 with pan-India single telephone number integrated grievance redressal mechanism has also been developed to enable farmers for end-to-end grievances/concerns/queries resolution.
ANNEXURE
Brief of major agricultural schemes introduced by the Government during the last few years
| S No | Name of the Scheme | Purpose |
| 1. | Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) | PM-KISAN is a central sector scheme launched on 24th February 2019 to supplement financial needs of land holding farmers, subject to exclusions. Under the scheme, financial benefit of Rs. 6000/- per year is transferred in three equal four-monthly installments into the bank accounts of farmers’ families across the country, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. Till now, Rs. 3.24 lakh crores have been transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to more than 11 crores beneficiaries (Farmers) through various installments. |
| 2. | Pradhan Mantri Kisan MaanDhan Yojana (PM-KMY) | Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojna (PMKMY) is a central sector scheme launched on 12th September 2019 to provide security to the most vulnerable farmer families. PM-KMY is contributory scheme, small and marginal farmers (SMFs), subject to exclusion criteria, can opt to become member of the scheme by paying monthly subscription to the Pension Fund. Similar, amount will be contributed by the Central Government.
The applicants between the age group of 18 to 40 years will have to contribute between Rs. 55 to Rs. 200 per month till they attain the age of 60. PMKMY is taking care of the farmers during their old age and provides Rs. 3,000 monthly pension to the enrolled farmers once they attain 60 years of age, subject to exclusion criteria. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is pension fund manager and registration of beneficiaries is done through CSC and State Govts. So far 23.38 lakh farmers have enrolled under the scheme. |
| 3. | Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) | In order to address the existing infrastructure gaps and mobilize investment in agriculture infrastructure, Agri Infra Fund was launched under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package. AIF was introduced with a vision to transform the agriculture infrastructure landscape of the country. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee support. The Fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore under the scheme will be disbursed from FY 2020-21 to FY2025-26 and the support under the scheme will be provided for the duration of FY2020-21 to FY2032-33.
Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores. Further, each entity is eligible to get the benefit of the scheme for up to 25 projects located in different LGD codes. Eligible beneficiaries include Farmers, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations(FPOs), Self Help Group (SHG), Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public Private Partnership Projects, State Agencies, Agricultural Produce Market Committees (Mandis), National & State Federations of Cooperatives, Federations of FPOs (Farmer Produce Organizations) and Federations of Self Help Groups (SHGs). As on 16-07-2024, Rs.44,824 Crores have been sanctioned for 70,762. |
| 4. | Formation & Promotion of new 10,000 FPOs | The Government of India launched the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)” in the year 2020. The scheme has a total budgetary outlay of Rs.6865 crores. Formation & promotion of FPOs are to be done through Implementing Agencies (IAs), which further engage Cluster Based Business Organizations (CBBOs) to form & provide professional handholding support to FPOs for a period of 5 years.
FPOs get a financial assistance upto Rs 18.00 lakh per FPO for a period of 03 years. In addition to this, provision has been made for matching equity grant upto Rs. 2,000 per farmer member of FPO with a limit of Rs. 15.00 lakh per FPO and a credit guarantee facility upto Rs. 2 crore of project loan per FPO from eligible lending institution to ensure institutional credit accessibility to FPOs. Suitable provisions have been made for training and skill development of FPOs. Further, FPOs are onboarded on National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform which facilitate online trading of their agricultural commodities through transparent price discovery method to enable FPOs to realize better remunerative prices for their produce. So far, total 8,872 FPOs were registered under the scheme. |
| 5. | National beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) | Keeping in view the importance of beekeeping, a new Central Sector Scheme entitled National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) was launched in 2020 under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan for its implementation in the field for overall promotion and development of scientific beekeeping & to achieve the goal of “Sweet Revolution”. Some of the achievements include;
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| 6. | National Mission on Edible Oils (NMEO)-Oil Palm | A new Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely, National Mission on Edible Oil (NMEO)-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) has been launched by Government of India in 2021 in order to promote oil palm cultivation for making the country Aatamnirbhar in edible oils with special focus on North-Eastern States and A&N Islands. The Mission will bring additional area of 6.5 lakh ha under Oil Palm plantation with 3.28 lakh ha in north-eastern states and 3.22 in rest of India with total outlay of Rs. 11040 cr in next 5 years from 2021-22 to 2025-26. |
| 7. | Namo Drone Didi | The Government has recently approved a Central Sector Scheme for providing drones to the Women Self Help Group (SHGs) for the period from 2024-25 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs. 1261 Crores. The scheme aims to provide drones to 15000 selected Women Self Help Group (SHGs) for providing rental services to farmers for agriculture purpose (application of fertilizers and pesticides). Under this Scheme, Central Financial Assistance @ 80% of the cost of drone and accessories/ancillary charges upto a maximum of Rs. 8.0 Lakhs will be provided to the women SHGs for purchase of drones. The Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) of SHGs may raise the balance amount (total cost of procurement minus subsidy) as loan under National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility (AIF). Interest subvention @ 3% on the AIF loan will be provided to the CLFs. The scheme will also provide sustainable business and livelihood support to SHGs and they would be able to earn additional income of at least of Rs. 1.0 lakh per annum. |