Evaluation of ‘Revamped’ Crop Insurance Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) among Paddy Farmers in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Agricultural sector in India employs more than 50% of the workforce, making crop insurance essential. Crop Insurance in India has continuously evolved for nearly half a decade with various names. With the past knowledge, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was implemented during 2016 in a mission to overcome the lacunas in its predecessors. The scheme was revamped during 2020. In this context, a study was conducted to analyse the performance of the scheme among Paddy farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu during 2019 prior to revamping. Thus, this paper has attempted to evaluate the proposed changes in revamping with relevance to the issues faced by various stakeholders of crop insurance. Among the insured farmers, claim not triggered and delay in settlement were the major problems faced in the scheme. Among un-insured farmers, credibility was the major issued for non-enrolment. The study also has collected the response of Agricultural Officials towards the operation of the scheme in the study area. From the results, it was found that the recent revamping is grounded and well planned to make an impact in the crop insurance arena. However, the increase in awareness activities is highly necessary to increase the cover of farmers and to stabilise the numbers.