The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare has expanded the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to include crop losses caused by wild animal attacks and to reintroduce paddy inundation as a localised calamity cover. The new modalities — approved following expert recommendations — will be implemented from Kharif 2026 to strengthen protection for vulnerable farmers.
What the new cover includes
The revised PMFBY framework recognises wild animal attacks as the fifth Add-on Cover under the Localised Risk category. States will notify species responsible for damage and identify vulnerable districts or insurance units using historical loss data. Farmers must report incidents within 72 hours through the Crop Insurance App and upload geotagged photographs to support claims.
Paddy inundation, removed from the localised calamity list in 2018, has been reinstated for flood-prone districts where seasonal submergence causes repeated crop failure. The reintroduction follows careful assessment of previous challenges and is structured to reduce moral hazard while closing an important protection gap.
Why this matters to farmers
For years, farmers living near forests, corridors and hilly terrain have faced recurrent losses from elephants, wild boars, nilgai, deer and monkeys. Similarly, paddy growers in coastal and flood-prone regions have suffered from seasonal inundation without insurance recourse. The expanded PMFBY aims to provide timely, technology-driven claim settlements in such local events.
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare convened an expert committee whose recommendations were approved by Union Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Officials say the modalities combine scientific assessment with operational feasibility to ensure transparent nationwide implementation.
Regions and crops likely to benefit
States with high human–wildlife conflict — including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — are expected to gain substantially from the new cover. Himalayan and Northeast states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh are also covered due to frequent depredation incidents.
Reintroduced paddy inundation cover will particularly help farmers in Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, where monsoon surges and overflowing waterways lead to repeated submergence and crop loss.
Modalities and claim process
Under the new modalities, states will list wild animals and vulnerable areas; insurance units will be defined at the district or sub-district level where appropriate. Timely reporting via the Crop Insurance App — with geotagged photos within 72 hours — will form the basis for faster claim verification and settlement.
Officials stress that the framework balances farmer protection with safeguards against misuse. It uses historical data, localised risk assessments and technology-enabled verification to make implementation practical and transparent.
Policy significance and next steps
By addressing previously uncompensated losses, the government says PMFBY’s expansion is a major step toward a more inclusive and resilient crop insurance programme. The changes demonstrate an effort to tailor insurance products to region-specific risks, protecting farmers who operate on the climate and wildlife frontiers.
The new covers will be rolled out from Kharif 2026. Stakeholders — including state governments, insurers and farmer groups — will need to coordinate quickly to finalise notifications, insurer bid structures and communication to beneficiaries ahead of the sowing season.
