The toil of the farmer puts food on our tables. Come rain or sun, he is out in his fields! From the break of dawn till the sun goes down – ploughing, sowing & taking care of his crop so we can have our daily sustenance. However, many-a-times, his crops are destroyed by insects, adverse weather, and other calamities. This can put a lot of stress on a farmer’s financial situation, as he depends on his crops to make ends meet.
Keeping this in mind, the Government of India has introduced a crop insurance scheme to ease the woes of farmers in India. This scheme is known as the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) and the following article will give you a quick overview of this plan.
So, what is the PMFBY?
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana is a crop insurance scheme that protects farmers in India from the financial impact of yield losses. The scheme provides compensation to farmers in case of crop damages and ensures that such unfortunate events do not derail their livelihood. The importance of the PMFBY is further highlighted considering that many farmers take out loans to cover their cost of operation, making crop failure an even bigger problem. In case their crop fails, they are left in huge amounts of debt and no way to cover their daily expenses.
What is covered under PMFBY?
PMFBY protects farmers from several unfortunate events that can cause yield failure or crop damage. The best part is that this plan offers coverage at every stage of the crop cycle, from sowing right until harvesting. This ensures that farmers have comprehensive protection & complete peace of mind! Let’s look at the various crop stages & perils covered by the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana.
Prevented sowing: The scheme will pay the farmer 25% of the sum insured in case 75% or more of the notified crop area goes unsown due to low rainfall or other seasonal conditions. Therefore, the protection of the PMFBY crop insurance scheme starts even before the crops can take root.
Standing crop: Standing crop is at the most risk of unfortunate events. Keeping this in mind, the PMFBY scheme provides coverage against non-preventable events such as drought or floods or inundation along with natural fire, lightning, and so on.
Post-harvest: Certain crops have to be dried, cut, and stored after harvesting. Therefore, the scheme also offers coverage for up to 14 days after harvesting against unfortunate events including hailstorm, cyclones, non-seasonal rains, etc.
Localized Calamities: Last but not the least, the coverage of the PMFBY scheme also takes into consideration loss or damage to crops caused by localized events such as hailstorm, cloud burst, and natural fires, so on and so forth.
Exclusions of the PMFBY scheme:
While the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana does an amazing job at protecting the livelihood of farmers, it does have its exclusions too, these include:
-War and nuclear risks.
-Malicious damages.
-Other preventable risks.
We hope this article has furthered your understanding of the PMFBY crop insurance scheme. If you have any further doubts, you can simply contact one of the insurance companies that are empanelled under this scheme – they will be more than happy to help.
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