PMFBY: Government Targets Over 1 Crore Farmers to Promote PM Fasal Bima Yojana

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will give a speech on the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMBFY) on Wednesday. Over one crore farmers are expected to tune into the minister’s speech through gram sabhas, primary agri cooperative societies (PAC), common service centers (CSCs), and farmer producers organizations (FPOs).

Tomar had written to all Members of Parliament last week, asking them to participate in the program preferably at a place in their constituency, and mobilize a maximum number of farmers for the program. He also requested the Members of Parliament to coordinate with the district magistrates concerned about the success of the event.

Topic of Discussion with the farmers

The Centre requested all State Agriculture Ministers to join the event where Tomar will be interacting with three preidentified beneficiaries each, from Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha on PMBFY-related topics and with Assam and Maharashtra on issues related to Kisan Credit Card (KCC). He will also be speaking about the revised weather-based crop insurance scheme with growers from Himachal Pradesh.

Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu have also been requested to ensure a large number of farmers participate in the event as it will be webcast through CSCs and other agencies.

“We have been providing various services to farmers like teleconsultations, Fasal Bima, KCC, and PM Kisan schemes. The ‘Kisan Bhagidari, Prathmikta Hamari’ campaign initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture will help us reach out to farmers through the combined efforts of our VLEs and Gram Sabha.” Said Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Director of CSC PV.

“Though there is no concern in the States where PMBFY is under implementation. The government is worried about a possible lower enrollment this Kharif in given expectations of a normal monsoon,” said an expert.

Lower Enrollment During Last Kharif Season

During the last Kharif season, we saw a drop of 10.5 percent from the previous season as only 1.5 crores had registered in the PMFBY scheme. Although the rate of enrollment of farmers was low, there was an increase in the number of applicati0ons as land records got digitized in some States and also linked with the scheme.

Farmers with lands at two different places have to fill out two different forms as both premium and crop may be different in each location.

For example, in Rajasthan, 30.92 lakh farmers got enrolled during Kharif 2021 against 30. 45 lakhs in the previous season. However, the number of farmer’s applications jumped from 67.2 lakh to 1.89 crores in 2020 Kharif.