Farmers Opinion On Crop Insurance Scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Pmfby)

Abstract

Agriculture is the major industry in India and about 80 percent of the population is directly and indirectly dependent on agricultural activities. It is the backbone of the Indian economy and contributes 16 percent to the Indian economy. The development and progress of the country depends on the development of agriculture sector. However, farmers in India face many problems and issues in engaging in agricultural activities. Therefore, Government of India has given high priority to the farmers to improve their agricultural activities by providing adequate and high income from agriculture by providing crop insurance schemes. In 2016 the government introduced the Pradhan Mantri Fazal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) to overcome the shortcomings of earlier crop insurance schemes. The primary objectives of the scheme are to support sustainable production in the agricultural sector with four aspects namely financial support, income stabilization, promotion of adoption of modern techniques and flow of credit features. Therefore, this study examines the actual effectiveness of the PMFBY scheme from the perspective of farmers. Descriptive and exploratory research methods were used and multi-stage random sampling technique was used to determine and identify sample insured farmers. From the analysis results, the study concludes that, that majority of the insured farmers opined that the crop insurance scheme PMFBY provides financial support to farmers not in on-time and moderately provides benefits to farmers.  At the same time, almost all the farmers opined that all banks provide crop loans under PMFBY scheme and the scheme does not provide timely financial assistance for unexpected losses.