Many Farmers Still Unaware, But Beneficiaries Satisfied With PM Fasal Bima Yojana Says Survey

Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), a climate risk management firm has claimed that those who had enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) scheme had expressed that they were satisfied with the implementation of the scheme, PTI has reported. A high percentage of farmers enrolled under the scheme have received payouts according to WRMS.

However, the survey conducted by BASIX in eight states has also revealed that 28.7 per cent of farmers are still unaware of PMFBY. The survey was conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Bihar and Maharashtra.

PMFBY, launched in 2016, offers a uniform premium of two per cent for all Kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for all Rabi crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers is 5 per cent.

Enrolment of non-loanee farmers has been a problem according to the survey as the scheme requires sowing certificates and land records from revenue department. Farmers have complained that the process of getting these documents is time consuming.

“41.3 per cent of the farmers cited lack of necessary documents as the major challenge to get insurance and the other challenges were small land holdings (21.4 per cent), lack of assistance from government officials (26 per cent) and inefficiency of online systems (17.3 per cent),” the WRMS survey has revealed.