Create more awareness about PMFBY: Centre to stakeholders

The Centre on Monday appealed all stakeholders to create awareness among farmers about central scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

The PMFBY was launched in January 2016 replacing the older schemes to ensure farmers pay less premium and get full and early settlement of the claims.

"The current format of the scheme requires active participation of three different sectors -- the state governments, banking sector and insurance sector," Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal said at a conference organised in Udaipur, Rajasthan for reviewing implementation of the PMFBY.

Therefore, there is a need to ensure effective consultation amongst all the stakeholders for the smooth implementation of the scheme that benefits farmers, a statement quoted him as saying.

The two-day long national conference saw participation of around 140 members representing different states, banks, insurance companies, RBI, NABARD, among others.

PMFBY CEO and Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry Ashish Kumar Bhutani said there's a need to make a joint effort by all the stakeholders to formulate communication strategy to build trust among farmers.

"Insurance companies need to address grievances raised by the farmers on social media within a stipulated time frame," he said, and emphasised the need to prioritise specific issues of the North-Eastern States about this scheme.

Due to the improved features of PMFBY, the coverage under the scheme has increased to 30 per cent of the gross cropped area from 23 per cent in 2015-16 under erstwhile schemes, according to the official data.

Participation of non-loanee farmers, for whom the scheme is voluntary, have also increased from 5 per cent under erstwhile schemes to 42 per cent (kharif 2019) under PMFBY showing the voluntary acceptability of the scheme, it added.