Why in News?

• Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has recently stated that it is open to taking pro-farmer changes in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in response to the recent climate crisis and rapid technological advances

Highlights

• It is Launched in 2016 and is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• It replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
• Farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in the notified areas are eligible for coverage.
• To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crops as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
• To stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
• To ensure the flow of credit to the agriculture sector
• Union of Agri-Tech and rural insurance can be the magic formula for financial inclusion, enabling a trust in the scheme.
• World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2022 categorizes extreme weather risk as the second largest risk over the next 10 years period. Therefore, it becomes imminent to provide a safety net to the farmers to protect their financial position and encourage them to continue farming and ensure food security.
• There is a need for comprehensive rethinking among states and the central governments to further resolve all the pending issues around the scheme so that the farmers could get benefit from this scheme.
• Further, rather than paying subsidies under this scheme, the state government should invest that money in a new insurance model