Agriculture Experts Discuss Importance of Crop Insurance in Webinar Hosted by Krishi Jagran

Krishi Jagran hosted a live webinar titled "Crop Insurance: Risk Eliminator in Farmers Income" on Friday, July 7.

The webinar was inspired by  Crop Insurance Week, which runs from July 1 to July 7. A number of distinguished speakers from India participated in the session and shared their views. The main goals of the webinar were to highlight the importance of crop insurance and tell farmers how easy it is to file a claim and protect themselves from crop losses.

What is Crop Insurance?

Crop insurance is a type of insurance policy that protects farmers from unexpected losses in crop yields caused by natural disasters or market sales. Crop insurance is divided into two types: crop-yield insurance and crop revenue insurance.

Crop insurance protects projected revenue from unanticipated yields or harvest volume, whereas crop-revenue insurance protects income from market fluctuations in crop selling prices. Both types of insurance can assist agricultural producers in recovering from disasters caused by unforeseeable events. Crop-yield insurance may cover natural disasters such as fire, drought, or flooding, with the goal of protecting producers from yield or crop loss.

Why is Crop Insurance Important for Farmers?

Agriculture employs nearly 65 percent of the world's population and is a food and livelihood economic sector. Weather, insufficient or inconsistent rainfall, humidity, drought, flood, fire, insect attack, plant-related diseases, and other natural uncertainties are common challenges for agricultural producers around the world.

Farmers are most concerned about the weather because it affects crop productivity. Crop insurance policies are an excellent way for farmers to reduce the risk of crop loss management and property damage from natural disasters.

Webinar Insights:

The session was streamed live on Krishi Jagran's Facebook page. Shruti Joshi Nigam, Krishi Jagran's Content Manager (Hindi), began the webinar by welcoming all the guest speakers. She highlighted the objective of the PM Fasal Bima Yojana and the significance of crop insurance. 

She went on to say that the government has also taken several steps to assist farmers in claiming crop insurance benefits. The PM Fasal Bima Yojana is one such initiative. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) initiative in India during the Kharif 2016 season.

M.C. Dominic, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Krishi Jagran, moderated the online event. He welcomed and thanked all the speakers for joining this webinar. Brijesh Tripathi of Akori Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, was then invited to express his thoughts and opinions on the subject.

Brijesh Tripathi greeted everyone and stated that crop insurance is critical for our financial security during natural disasters. To make a significant difference in the lives of farmers, he requested that the government to conduct a ground-level analysis of each village and provide insurance based on the major crop produced in that region.

He thanked the government for taking such a significant step toward providing crop insurance to farmers. Farmers benefit from initiatives such as PMFBY because the amount of labour and money they have invested in the crop will be compensated and not wasted.

Sunil Kumar Kurshi, Assistant Commissioner, Credit Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, thanked the Krishi Jagran Team for organizing such a webinar on such an important issue for farmers. "Crop insurance is critical for the financial stability of the farming community," he said. As we all know, the agriculture sector is extremely sensitive to environmental changes, and climate change is currently posing a significant risk to it, putting additional strain on farmers. PMFBY is running smoothly, and the government implements necessary reforms on a regular basis to maintain farmers' trust."

Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Director, Agricultural Statistics & Crop Insurance, Government of Uttar Pradesh, highlighted the objectives of PMFBY i.e., 

• To compensate farmers who have suffered crop loss/damage due to unforeseen events;

• To stabilize farmers' income in order for them to continue farming;

• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices & technology; and

• To ensure the flow of credit to the agriculture sector, which will contribute to food security, crop diversification, and enhancing growth and competitiveness of the agriculture sector, in addition to protecting farmers from production risks.

Talking about the PMFBY Scheme, Piyush Singh, National Head of Agriculture and Government Business, SBI General Insurance explained a little about the process of the PMFBY scheme. He said that Under the PMFBY and RWBCIS schemes, both loanee and non-loanee farmers are eligible for insurance. Farmers who have received loans from one or more financial institutions for seasonal agricultural operations (SAO) including specified crops are referred to as loanee farmers. Non-loanee farmers are those who have not received a loan from a recognized financial institution.

Moreover, he stated that farmers who take out loans must be insured by the banks from which they get crop loans. Farmers who do not have loans can insure their crops by going to CSC offices or insurance company offices. Farmers can also speak with bankers or brokers and agents of insurance companies, or they can apply online through the Kisan Portal.

Ashish Agarwal, Head of Agribusiness, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited commended the Krishi Jagran team for organizing this webinar at the right time as farmers are ready to start crop production for the Kharif season 2022. According to him, the PMFBY scheme welcomes more than 5.5 crore farmers each year who take advantage of its perks. He mentioned that the government has also launched a fresh campaign to spread the word about this scheme throughout the country.

from which they obtain crop loans. Non-Loanee farmers can insure their crops by visiting CSC centres or insurance company offices. Farmers can also approach banks or insurance company agents and brokers, or go online to the farmer portal.

Nivedita Mandal, Vice President at Agriculture and Rural Business Group, HDFC-ERGO explained how her company has been making the process of taking crop insurance easier for the farmers. She explained that crop insurance was handled manually until PMFBY was established in 2016, and insurance booking was also done manually.

But now that the Indian government has developed a crop insurance portal, farmers can easily and transparently get their insurance by going to banks, CSEs, post offices, etc. She said that her company had created a farmer-specific app that provided detailed information regarding crop harvesting. The company SMS alerts the farmers even before disasters like floods and cyclones are predicted. Additionally, they have provided farmers with a WhatsApp number where farmers can access crop insurance-related information and track the progress of their insurance.

Ajay K Singh, National Program Lead, Tech Unit Support, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said that the main goal of this scheme is to empower farmers and make them Atmanirbhar by providing financial security. The new goal of PMFBY is to bring new farm technology to farmers and implement it on the ground. He also informed that we are currently working on taking the concerns of the farming community and attempting to resolve them through a proper grievance redressal mechanism.

Vibhash Kumar, General Manager, Common Services Centre, said, "The role of CSE in crop insurance scheme is very important. Kisan Bhai can go to any nearby CSE centre and get complete information about this scheme; all CSE employees are fully trained, and CSE staff assists farmers in applying and dealing with problems with their documents. It also helps. We are seeing an increase in the number of farmers registering with the CSC.”

The program was concluded by Dr. P.K Pant, Chief Operating Officer, Krishi Jagran with a vote of thanks.

The webinar is available on Krishi Jagran’s Facebook page as well as the official PMFBY Facebook page for viewers to watch.