Crop insurance claims at Rs 9,570 crore for 2020-21; 60% lower from previous year

According to official data, the number of crop insurance claims filed by farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for the 2020-21 crop year decreased by more than 60% from the previous year, totaling Rs 9,570 crore.

However, the government has cleared a large number of crop insurance applications for the 2020-21 and 2019-20 crop years.

In the crop year 2019-20, crop insurance claims totaled Rs 27,398 crore (July-June).

PMFBY was introduced in 2016-17, with numerous enhancements over previous crop insurance programmes. The scheme’s operational guidelines were updated with effect from Rabi 2018 and Kharif 2020, respectively, to guarantee that farmers received enough and timely benefits.

According to the report, 612 lakh farmers insured 445 lakh hectares of farm land under the PMFBY in 2020-21, for a total sum guaranteed of Rs 1,93,767 crore.

However, total claims for 2020-21 totaled Rs 9,570 crore. The claims reported for the Kharif season totaled Rs 6,779 crore, while the claims for the Rabi season totaled Rs 2,792 crore.

Rajasthan had the most crop insurance claims, totaling Rs 3,602 crore, followed by Maharashtra at Rs 1,232 crore and Haryana at Rs 1,112.8 crore in 2020-21.

Approximately 501 lakh hectares were insured by 613 lakh farmers under the PMFBY in the 2019-20 crop year, for a total of Rs 2,19,226 crore.

The claims recorded for the 2019-20 crop year were larger in the Kharif season, at Rs 21,496 crore, than in the Rabi season, at Rs 5,902 crore.

Maharashtra reported the highest crop insurance claims of Rs 6,757 crore in 2020-21, followed by Madhya Pradesh with Rs 5,992 crore and Rajasthan with Rs 4,921 crore.

Farmers’ crop insurance claims for 2019-20 are almost cleared, according to the official. The Rs 1,200 crore in outstanding claims will be settled soon. Farmers’ crop insurance claims of Rs 6,845 crore for 2020-21 have also been cleared, according to the official.