“Crop Insurance is a Risk Eliminator in Farmers Income” – Say Experts From HDFC, SBI, Bajaj Allianz

On Thursday, July 7, Krishi Jagran hosted a live webinar titled "Crop Insurance- Risk Eliminator in Farmers' Income." The webinar was inspired by Crop Insurance Week, which runs from July 1 through July 7. Prominent speakers including Ashish Agarwal, Head of Agribusiness, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited, Piyush Singh, National Head at Agriculture and Government Business, SBI General Insurance, and Nivedita Mandal, Vice President at Agriculture and Rural Business Group, HDFC-ERGO took part in the discussion and shared their advice on crop insurance and the PMFBY scheme.

The primary goal of the webinar was to highlight the value of crop insurance and explain to farmers how they can use it to receive compensation for crop losses.

About 65 percent of people worldwide work in agriculture, a sector of the economy that provides both food and sustenance. Farmers all throughout the world face common challenges including the weather, insufficient or inconsistent rainfall, humidity, drought, floods, fires, insect attacks, plant diseases, and other natural uncertainties.

While crop-revenue insurance protects income from market fluctuations in crop selling prices, crop insurance protects expected income from unpredictable crop yields or volumes. Both kinds of insurance can help farmers recover from disasters brought on by unforeseen circumstances. Crop-yield insurance can protect growers from crop loss by covering natural calamities like fire, drought, and floods.

Advice Shared by Insurance Sector Experts:

Although there is enough information on the internet about crop insurance, the majority of farmers still have a problem accessing insurance. 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.

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.

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

To learn more about the HDFC, SBI, and Bajaj Allianz Crop Insurance policies, visit their websites.