PMFBY: A move to support Farmers

Considering the plight of farmers, the Union Cabinet has recently approved the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).  The new crop insurance scheme, which will be implemented from the next kharif season, will boost the farming sector and will ease the life of farmers to certain extent.

Under PMFBY, the farmers will have to pay a premium of 2 percent of the insured value for rain-dependent kharif crops, 1.5 percent for rabi and 5 percent for horticulture crops. Additionally, any losses incurred by the farmers from sowing to the post-harvest season will be covered under this scheme. According to the Agricultural Ministry, the new scheme is in line with the One Nation-One Scheme theme and captures the best features of all the previous schemes removing all previous shortcomings.  The premium rates have been brought down substantially and balance premium will be paid by the government to provide full insured amount to the farmers in case of losses incurred by them during natural calamities. This is a significant improvement over the existing Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme. This will help in reducing the burden on the farmers who already live with many weather and price risks.

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At the time when the government is proposing initiatives like Digital India (DI), Make in India (MI) and Start up India (SI), the recent move is highly welcome as it brings the farmers in the limelight. In country like India where agriculture is a huge sector which employs more than half of our workforce and the farmer suicide is already on an all-time high, launch of such schemes will bring some relief to the farmers. Farmers already run through multiple risks. During the complete process, they run the risk of inclement weather –patchy rains, drought, unseasonal rains-you name it and its there. 

There is always a risk of pest attack which calls for additional cost of purchasing anti-pesticides which has to be borne by the farmers. Then there is market risk where they may not get good amount for the harvest that they sell.  Such crop subsidy is preferable to those on fertilizers, electricity or waters as it will encourage farmers to invest in productivity improvements and new technologies. Understanding of the problems faced by the farmer’s calls for sensitivity from the government end. And coming of these schemes gives a good sign about the farmers’ future.

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The implementation of such scheme will remove the earlier capping of the premium rate. In order to enable faster claims payment, the government intends to encourage use of technology and smartphones to capture and upload data on crop harvesting and also deploy remote sensing to reduce crop cutting experiments. Although such steps will increase the fiscal burden on the government, it would help in easing the life of the farmers and may help in reducing the number of farmer suicide cases significantly. But the government should not limit its actions only to this scheme. It should bring in a holistic framework to address different agricultural problems and should encourage entrepreneurial ventures in the areas of agriculture and farming.
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About the Author: Arshdeep Kaur is an Electronics and Communication Engineer who is working in one of the leading MNCs in Bangalore. Born and brought up in Delhi, she is exploring her interests in the areas of writing