Crop insurance scheme PMFBY makes comeback, enrollments jump

Number of farmers availing of the scheme reaches all-time high of 25 mn

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the marquee crop insurance scheme of the Narendra Modi government, is showing signs of revival after a years-long slump.

When the kharif season concluded recently, the number of farmers enrolled in the scheme reached an all-time high of 25 million. The share of non-loanee farmers – those who opted for the scheme voluntarily without using it as cover against a loan – jumped to almost 44.5 per cent (or 11.1 million). Total enrollments for PMFBY is at the highest since 2018, data showed.

In the previous kharif season, around 20.4 million farmers had