3.6 cr farmers take insurance cover of Rs 1.41 lakh cr so far

About 3.6 crore farmers have taken the crop insurance policy for a sum insured of Rs 1.41 lakh crore so far in 2016-17 crop year, the government said today and expressed confidence that it would meet the target of 30 per cent coverage by end of the rabi (winter) season.
Early this year, the government had launched a new crop insurance scheme called Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), reducing premiums substantially for both kharif and rabi crops.
The Agriculture Ministry has set a target to increase the coverage under PMFBY to 30 per cent in the first year itself from the existing 23 per cent in the old schemes.

Releasing the latest data, the Agriculture Ministry said, "PMFBY launched in the country from Kharif 2016 has made impressive progress in the first season itself. As on date, the scheme has provided coverage to 366.64 lakh farmers (26.50 per cent)."
At this rate, it is likely to exceed the target of 30 per cent coverage for both Kharif and Rabi seasons of the ongoing 2016-17 crop year (July-June), an official statement said.
"In terms of total area covered, the achievement has been significant amounting to a total area of 388.62 lakh hectare and sum insured of Rs 1,41,339 crore," it added.

In the 2016 Kharif season, the performance was better despite the fact that there were some initial issues after the launch.

For instance, many states did the bidding process for selection of the insurance companies for concerned clusters for the first time and consequently, the notification of the scheme was delayed in a number of states, the Ministry said.
So far this year, farmers coverage increased by 18.5 per cent while area coverage by 15 per cent and sum insured by 104 per cent when compared with the kharif 2015 season.
In the Kharif 2016, 326 lakh farmers were insured covering an area of 380 lakh hectare for sum insured of Rs 1,37,535 crore as compared to 309 lakh farmers during kharif 2015 season covering an area of 339 lakh hectare for sum insured of Rs 69,307 crore, according to the data placed before the Lok Sabha earlier this week.

Furthermore, there has been a quantum jump of more than six times in the coverage of non-loanee farmers from 14.88 lakh in Kharif 2015 to 102.6 lakh in Kharif 2016, which shows that the scheme has been well received by the non-loanee segment,the ministry said.
The PMFBY was recast as a new scheme as the two earlier crop insurance schemes were not meeting the full requirements of the farmers for insurance coverage.