The number of farmers enrolled for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) during kharif 2018 was 3.43 crore, marginally lower than the figure in the previous season, but officials said the number may go up as a few States are yet to submit the data.

This data was presented by PMFBY CEO Ashish Bhutani during Kharif Conference 2019, organised by the agricultural ministry last week in the capital.

“This was only provisional data. Data from a few States have not yet been received. The final data is expected to exceed the coverage in kharif 2017 season,” he said.

As per the data available at present, 3.43 crore farmers have brought a total area of 3.1 crore hectares under PMFBY cover by paying a premium of ₹3,076 crore. The gross premium was ₹20,522 crore, with the Centre and States sharing the balance .

Gross cropped area

Officials claimed that the gross cropped area under the insurance cover increased from 22 per cent to 30 per cent since the inception of the scheme four years ago. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, wanted to bring 50 per cent of gross cropped area in the country under crop insurance .

Dismal performance

The performance of PMFBY was dismal in kharif 2017 itself. As against 4.04 crore farmers enrolled in kharif 2016, the numbers dropped by 14 per cent to 3.49 crore in the 2017 kharif season.

The officials, however, argued that the numbers came down mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, de-duplication based on Aadhaar removed many multiple beneficiaries and secondly, loan waivers announced by many States adversely affected the enrolment.

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