Relief for farmers : Cabinet nod for making crop insurance voluntary

New Delhi: To cut the risk in agriculture production and stabilise the farm income, the Union government has approved revamping of two of its flagship schemes.

The Cabinet has decided to make the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) voluntary for farmers, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

Addressing an event here, Tomar said that the decision was taken in Wednesday's Cabinet meeting following some complaints regarding the scheme launched in April 2016.

PMFBY is compulsory for loanee farmers availing crop loan and Kishan Credit Card (KCC) account for notified crops, while it is voluntary for others.

The scheme provides comprehensive crop insurance from pre-sowing to the post-harvest period against non-preventable natural risks at extremely low premium rates of 2 per cent for kharif crops, 1.5 per cent for rabi crops and 5 per cent for horticulture and commercial crops.

The Cabinet also gave its sanction of Rs 6,000 crore for the Farmer Producers' Organisation (FPO) as the government has a target of creating 1,000 FPOs in the next five years.

The move is also aimed at increasing the coverage in the northeastern region enabling farmers to manage their agricultural risk in a better way, said the official statement.

Further, these changes are proposed to be implemented from kharif' 2020 season throughout the country. The changes are also expected to enable quick and accurate yield estimation leading to faster claims settlement.