Maharashtra: Highest Number Of Farmers Enrolled For Govt’s Re-1 Crop Insurance

The Maharashtra government had come up with a crop insurance scheme called Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for farmers’ benefit. This Re-1 premium for farmers has seen good traction from the beneficiaries. Till July 31, for this Kharif season, Maharashtra got 1.50 crore applications for the scheme, the highest number of registration reported in the state to date.

Maharashtra has now surpassed all other states in the nation in the number of registrations made to take advantage of the program. Since the PMFBY program's start, Maharashtra has consistently seen an enormous amount of registrants. Farmers registered for the program in large numbers even after it became optional.

The old plan required farmers to pay anywhere from two to five percent of the premium, with the remaining premium being split equally between the state and federal governments.

In March when the budget was announced this year, Devendra Fadnavis, the state's deputy chief minister, stated that "farmers would be able to enroll for the scheme for Re-1 as the premium."

For this scheme, an annual outlay of Rs 3,312 crore was set. We can say that this planning was done well as it seems to have great results as the highest number of farmers have enrolled.

Thus, 68.78 lakh farmers who have 99 lakh hectares of farmland insured this kharif season have submitted 1.50 crore applications. Due to Maharashtra's heavily subsidized premium rate, this would be the state's highest enrollment under the scheme since it was introduced.

The state had 96.62 lakh applications from 43.56 lakh farmers for Kharif 2022, compared to 84.07 lakh applications from 36.07 lakh farmers in 2021.

Maharashtra Agriculture Commissioner Sunil Chavan said they had taken a special drive to get more traction for this scheme by farmers. "The insurance companies were also instructed to take up outreach programs. The combined effect of these activities has increased the registration manifold," he said.

Farmers have enthusiastically signed up for the program due to the financial certainty it provides, he said.

Given the natural disasters the state has undergone, the scheme has been found to favor the program among farmers.

This year as the state witnessed hefty flood-like rains in June-July, it reportedly pushed farmers to opt for the scheme. Due to the delay in the monsoon, sowing has also been postponed. The state quickly obliterated its rainfall shortfall after the monsoon revived in July. Additionally, areas like Nanded, Latur, Bhandra, and other parts of Konkan also saw floods as a result of the exceptionally high rain.

The two states of Maharashtra and Karnataka are experiencing the most impact. 8.34 mha have been sown in Maharashtra as of last year. However, only 3.63 mha have been sown this time.

On Monday, July 31, the Centre extended the enrollment date for the scheme by three more days to August 3.