Andhra Pradesh will be rejoining the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), a crop insurance for farmers being implemented by the Centre from Kharif 2022 season. 

Participating in a virtual meeting with the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and other senior officials in Amaravati on Tuesday. the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said the State Government would bear the premium burden of the farmers along with its own share as part of the scheme to facilitate free crop cover to the farmers. 

“Despte the economic situation, the State Government will be bearing two-thirds of the premium to bring all farmers cultivating the crops specified in the scheme,’‘ he said. 

Crop insurance modalities

Referring to the modalities of the scheme, Reddy said some changes have to be brought in the scheme in line with the situation in the state. 

The state has 10,444 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK) acting as hubs for the entire agricultural activities in coordination with the village secretariats. “We are collecting diverse data for better utilisation of the scheme by the Centre. The e-crop system being followed in AP will be very useful. The necessary changes should be brought in to bring all the farmers/crops under the purview of the system,’‘ the Chief Minister said. 

“There can be miracles if the Centre and States can share the premium burden for small and marginal farmers equally,’‘ he added.

Churning of scheme to benefit farmers

In his virtual address, Union Agriculture Minister Tomar said the Fasal Bima Yojana has been undergoing constant changes in consultation with the participating states adding to the `benefit of the farmers.  Keeping in view the suggestions of Andhra Pradesh and other states, the Centre has revamped the scheme 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 the States as per the option and prevailing risk profile and a provision of 3 per cent was made for administrative expenses, Tomar said. 

As per the scheme, the farmers pay 2 per cent of the total premium for the Kharif crops, 1.5 per cent for the rabi, and 5 per cent for cash crops and the rest were borne by the governments. The scheme replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and the Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme(MNAIS).

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