AP Rejoins Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to rejoin the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) following talks between Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Tomar expressed appreciation of the decision of the State government, as crops of over 40 lakh farmers would now get insurance cover in case of natural calamities.

He said that the Centre was working continuously with the States to improve the conditions of the farmers and make them prosperous, and that it had made PMFBY simple and convenient as per the suggestions of the States.

Keeping in view the suggestions of Andhra Pradesh and other States, the union government had revamped the scheme in February 2020 with new features such as voluntary enrollment for all farmers, wider use of technology in yield estimation, capability for States to choose risk coverage / sum insured depending on the prevailing risk profile, and a provision of 3% for administrative expenses.

Reddy said that after the discussions with the Centre, the State government had decided to provide the farmers with crop insurance cover under the PMFBY, and implement the scheme from the Kharif 2022 season. He thanked the Centre for re-implementing PMFBY in the State.

AP Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah and Additional Secretary of the union agriculture ministry Abhilaksh Likhi also addressed today's meeting. The CEO and Joint Secretary of the scheme Ritesh Chauhan also spoke.