New Delhi [India]: Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Wednesday that the Union Cabinet has approved the extension of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) until 2026. Highlighting the scheme’s success, he noted that over 4 crore farmers benefited from it in 2024.
“Today, the Union Cabinet has agreed to extend the PM Fasal Bima Yojana till 2026. The total budget is Rs 69,515.71 crore. The risk coverage will be from the sowing of the crop to the storage. Last year, more than 8 crore applications from farmers were received, and more than 4 crore farmers benefitted. The farmers received Rs 1.70 lakh crore as claims. This scheme is going to be extended till 2026,” Chouhan stated.
He further announced that the government has allocated Rs 3,850 crore to store Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilizer in advance.
“Another decision is to export rice. The minimum export price on rice has been removed. Today, an MoU has been signed between India and Indonesia regarding the trade of non-basmati white rice. India will export one million metric tonnes of non-basmati white rice,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the importance of the initiative in a message, stating, “The first decision of the new year is dedicated to the crores of farmer brothers and sisters of our country. We have approved increasing the allocation for crop insurance. While this will provide more security to the crops of the farmers, the worry of loss will also be reduced.”
Earlier, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Modi, approved the continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme until 2025-26. An overall outlay of Rs 69,515.71 crore has been allocated for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
The scheme aims to provide risk coverage for crops affected by non-preventable natural calamities across the country. To enhance transparency and improve claim calculations and settlements, the Cabinet has also approved the creation of the Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT), with a corpus of Rs 824.77 crore.
This fund will support technological initiatives under the scheme, including the Yield Estimation System using Technology (YES-TECH) and Weather Information and Disaster Support (WINDS). YES-TECH, which utilizes remote sensing technology for yield estimation, is currently being implemented in nine states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, with plans to onboard other states soon.
In Madhya Pradesh, a 100% technology-based yield estimation model has been adopted, while efforts are being made to ensure northeastern states benefit from the scheme. However, flexibility has been provided to reallocate unused funds to other development projects due to the scheme’s voluntary nature and low gross cropped area in these states.