• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) marked its ninth anniversary on February 18. 

• Launched in 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the scheme offers a comprehensive shield against crop losses caused by unpredictable natural hazards. 

• This protection not only stabilises farmers’ income but also encourages them to adopt innovative practices.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

• Crop insurance aims to protect the farmer against financial losses due to uncertainties that may arise from crop failures/losses arising from named or all unforeseen perils beyond their control.

• Keeping in view the risks involved in agriculture and to insure the farming community against various risks, the ministry of agriculture & farmers’ welfare introduced a crop insurance scheme in 1985 — Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS). Thereafter, the government brought improvements in the erstwhile schemes from time to time based on the experience gained and views of the stakeholders, states, farming community, etc. 

• The insurance schemes currently under implementation are the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).

• PMFBY, launched in 2016, aims to provide a comprehensive risk solution to farmers at the lowest uniform premium across the country. 

• It was launched to support production in agriculture by providing an affordable crop insurance product to ensure comprehensive risk cover for crops of farmers against all non-preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post-harvest stage. 

• The scheme covers natural disasters (droughts, floods), pests, and diseases, along with post-harvest losses due to local risks like hailstorms and landslides.

• Under PMFBY, a uniform maximum premium of only 2 per cent of the sum insured is paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for all Rabi crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the maximum premium to be paid by farmers is up to 5 per cent. 

• The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and the balance of actuarial premium is being borne by the government, to be shared equally by the state & central government  to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities. In Northeast states, the subsidy sharing pattern between central and state government is 90:10.

• Earlier, there was a provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. This capping in earlier schemes has now been removed.

• In PMFBY farmers will get a claim against full sum insured without any reduction.

• The crop insurance scheme has been able to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable farmers as around 85 per cent of the farmers enrolled with the scheme are small and marginal farmers.

• PMFBY was revamped in February 2020 with new features, such as voluntary enrolment for all farmers, wider use of technology in yield estimation, risk coverage to choose for payment of sum insured to states as per the option and prevailing risk profile.

• It has also been made convenient for the farmer to report crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence of any event through Crop Insurance App, CSC Centre or the nearest agriculture officer, with claim benefit transferred electronically into the bank accounts of the eligible farmer.

• Integration of land records with the PMFBY’s National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), Crop Insurance mobile app for easy enrolment of farmers, remittance of farmer premium through NCIP, a subsidy release module and a claim release module through NCIP are some of the key features of the scheme.

• In January 2025, the Union Cabinet approved the continuation of PMFBY and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme till 2025-26 with a total budget of Rs 69,515.71 crore.

• With 56.96 crore applications insured since 2016-17, PMFBY has demonstrated substantial impact, paying out Rs 1,54,469 crore in claims. This remarkable reach and financial assistance highlight the scheme's vital role in supporting farmers during challenging times.

Benefits of the scheme:

• Providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen events.

• Stabilising the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.

• Encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.

• Ensuring credit worthiness of the farmers, crop diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of the agriculture sector.

Technological Advancement

• PMFBY envisages use of improved technology including satellite imagery, drones, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and remote sensing. This is for various applications such as crop area estimation and yield disputes and also promote the use of remote sensing and other related technology for Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) planning, yield estimation, loss assessment, assessment of prevented sowing areas and clustering of districts. This enables more transparency, accountability and accuracy in loss assessment and timely payment of claims.

• Capturing crop yield data/Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) via the CCE-Agri App for direct upload to the National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP), allowing insurance companies to witness the conduct of CCEs, and integrating state land records with the NCIP.

• For timely and transparent loss assessment as well as timely settlement of admissible claims YES-TECH (Yield Estimation System Based on Technology) has been introduced from Kharif 2023 after discussions with stakeholders and technical consultations. YES-TECH enables large scale adoption of technology-based yield estimates for yield loss and insurance claim assessments under PMFBY. The purpose is to blend the technology-based yield estimates with manual yield estimates and reduce the dependence on manual system gradually.

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