3.26cr farmers enroll for crop insurance in 2016 kharif season

NEW DELHI: About 326 lakh farmers have been covered under the new crop insurance scheme for a sum insured of Rs 1.37 lakh crore during the 2016 kharif sowing season, government said today.

"As per tentative data available, during kharif 2016 about 326 lakh farmers have been insured covering an area of 380 lakh hectare for sum insured of Rs 1,37,535 crore as compared to 309 lakh farmers during kharif 2015 season covering an area of 339 lakh hectare for sum insured of Rs 69,307 crore," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said in Lok Sabha.

He said there is an increase of about 5.5 per cent in farmers covered, 12 per cent in the area covered and about 100 per cent in the sum insured during first season of implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme ( WBCIS) itself as compared to the kharif 2015 season.

Singh further said, the government aims to enhance the area under PMFBY and WBCIS up to 50 per cnet of the gross cropped area within next 2-3 years.

"...During 2016-17, a budget provision of Rs 5,501.15 crore was made for implementation of PMFBY/WBCIS and meeting the liabilities under erstwhile schemes.

"However, based on the tentative demand received from implementing insurance companies, additional resources by way of supplementary demand has been provided and Rs 7,955 crore has already been released," Singh said.