The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet today gave its in-principle approval for adopting the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) for horticulture crops such as apple and saffron, an official said.
It would be in addition to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as per the guidelines circulated by the Centre with effect from Kharif season 2016, the official said in a statement here.
He said the decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. The cabinet directed the agriculture production department to concretise the WBCIS scheme in consultation with the finance and the planning development and monitoring departments before final rollout.
The RWBCIS uses weather parameters as "proxy" for crop yields in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop losses.
Pay-out structures are developed to the extent of losses deemed to have been suffered using the weather triggers.
The objective of RWBCIS is to provide insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crops as a result of adverse weather incidences, the official said.