Andhra Pradesh decides to rejoin PMFBY

Vijayawada: The state government decided to rejoin the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) following talks between the Union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar and the Chief Minister of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. With this important decision, crops of more than 40 lakh farmers of the state will get insurance cover in case of natural calamity.

The decision was taken at a virtual meeting between the Union minister and the CM on Tuesday. Tomar said that the Central government had made PMFBY simple and convenient as per the suggestions of the states. The Central government is working continuously with the states to improve the condition of farmers and make them prosperous and transform agriculture into advanced farming, he added.

In the meeting, Jagan thanked the Central government for re-implementing PMFBY in the state. He said that after discussions with the Centre, the state government had decided to provide the farmers of the state with crop insurance cover under the PMFBY.

Andhra Pradesh has decided to implement the PMFBY from the Kharif-2022 season. The Central government is committed to empower the farmers across the country including Andhra Pradesh by securing their income and livelihood and to realise the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Atma Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) and self-reliant farmer, a government press release said.

Keeping in view the suggestions of Andhra Pradesh and other states, the Central government revamped the scheme in February-2020 with new features, such as voluntary enrolment for all farmers, wider use of technology in yield estimation, risk coverage to choose for payment of sum insured to the states as per the option and prevailing risk profile and a provision of 3% was made for administrative expenses.

On July 7, a team headed by the Union agriculture secretary Shri Manoj Ahuja also gave a presentation to the Chief Minister regarding the scheme. PMFBY and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) had been successfully implemented in Andhra Pradesh from Kharif-2016 to Kharif-2019.

Special chief secretary, Andhra Pradesh, Poonam Malakondaiah, additional secretary and Union agriculture ministry, Abhilaksh Likhi also addressed the meeting on Tuesday. The CEO and joint secretary of the scheme, Ritesh Chauhan, welcomed and gave a presentation. Senior officials of the Central and state government were also present in the meeting.