Andhra Pradesh will re-join the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), a crop insurance for farmers being implemented by the Center from the Kharif 2022 season.
Participating in a virtual meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and other senior officials in Amravati on Tuesday. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the state government will bear the burden of farmers’ premium along with its share as part of the scheme to facilitate free crop cover to the farmers.
“Irrespective of the economic situation, the state government will bear two-thirds of the premium to cover all the farmers cultivating specified crops in the scheme,” he said.
Crop Insurance Methods
Referring to the modalities of the scheme, Reddy said that some changes will have to be made in the scheme according to the situation in the state.
There are 10,444 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) in the state which act as centers for overall agricultural activities in coordination with village secretariats. “We are collecting miscellaneous data for better utilization of the scheme by the Centre. The e-crop system being adopted in AP will be very useful. Necessary changes should be brought to bring all farmers/crops under the ambit of the system.
“A miracle can happen if the Center and the states can share the premium burden equally for small and marginal farmers,” he said.
Brainstorming on the scheme in the interest of farmers
In his virtual address, Union Agriculture Minister Tomar said that changes are being made continuously adding ‘farmers’ benefits’ in consultation with the participating states in the crop insurance scheme. Taking into account the suggestions of Andhra Pradesh and other states, the Center revamped the scheme in February 2020 with new features like voluntary enrollment for all farmers, wider use of technology in yield estimation, risk coverage for payment of sum insured. Have given. Tomar said that as per the option and the prevailing risk profile, a provision of 3 per cent was made to the states and for administrative expenses.
As per the scheme, farmers pay 2 per cent of the total premium for Kharif crops, 1.5 per cent for Rabi and 5 per cent for cash crops and the rest is borne by the government. This scheme replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and the Revised National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
Published on
12 July 2022