Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has expande the scope of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The Ministry has now officially recognized the modalities for covering crop loss due to Wild Animal Attacks and Paddy Inundation under the scheme.
These decisions, which will be rolled out from Kharif 2026, address long-standing demands from various states and are aimed at strengthening the safety net for farmers against sudden, localized, and severe crop damage.
Protection Against Wildlife Damage
Crop loss caused by wild animal attacks will now be recognized as the fifth Add-on Cover under the Localised Risk category.
For years, farmers in regions near forests, wildlife corridors, and hilly terrains have suffered increasing, uncompensated losses from animals such as elephants, wild boars, nilgai, deer, and monkeys. This new coverage is expected to significantly benefit states with high human-wildlife conflict, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Himalayan and North-Eastern States.
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Implementation: States will be responsible for notifying the list of wild animals causing damage and identifying vulnerable districts or insurance units based on historical data.
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Reporting: Farmers must report losses within 72 hours using the Crop Insurance App, uploading geotagged photographs to facilitate a timely and technology-based claim settlement.
Reintroduction of Paddy Inundation Coverage
Responding to the recurring challenges faced by paddy growers, the Ministry has also approved the reintroduction of Paddy Inundation as a Localised Calamity Cover.
Paddy inundation was removed from the localized calamity category in 2018 due to assessment difficulties, leaving a major protection gap for farmers in flood-prone and coastal areas. Its re-inclusion will especially benefit coastal and flood-prone states like Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand, where paddy submergence is a recurrent issue during heavy rains and overflowing waterways.
Expert Recommendations Approved
The modalities for these new covers were prepared following the recommendations of an expert committee constituted by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare to address emerging risks and challenges.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has approved the recommendations, ensuring a scientific, transparent, and operationally feasible framework for nationwide implementation in accordance with the PMFBY Operational Guidelines.