Conditions for Indian Farmers in 2023

The increasing Farmer distress due to abnormal climatic conditions, since last few years have continuously hurting food security and leaving farmers in a bad condition.

• The three-year La Nina with El Nino makes an entry in 2023 by July.
• At the beginning of 2022, extreme rainfall and cold waves dashed that hope by damaging standing crops.
• While the world was entering into a severe food crisis as the Russia-Ukraine war started, Indian farmers had their own battles to fight.
• The early heat hitting in the month of February has destroyed the Rabi crops, further deteriorating the condition.

Impacts:

Where is the safety net for farmers?

• Marginal and small farmers, as per the 2015-16 agriculture censuses, account for 86% of total farmers in India and are the most vulnerable to extreme weather events.
• A senior leader of Sanykt Kisan Morcha (SKM), Darshan Pal says that climate vulnerability is the new distressed factor, especially among marginal and small farmers because their shock absorbing capacity is far less than big farmers.
• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has also underlined the poor performance of crop insurance.
  • In a book published recently, NABARD has argued that crop insurance is no longer a “perfect medication” for farmers hit by natural calamities.

Government Interventions:

PradhanMantriFasalBima Yojana (PMFBY):

• Launched in 2016 and is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
• Aim: To provide a comprehensive insurance cover against the failure of the crop thus helping in stabilising the income of the farmers.
• Scope: All food & oilseed crops and annual commercial/horticultural crops for which past yield data is available.
• Premium: The prescribed premium is 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all rabi crops. In the case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium is 5%.
  • Premium cost over and above the farmer share was equally subsidized by States and GoI.
  • However, GoI shared 90% of the premium subsidy for the North Eastern States to promote the uptake in the region.
• Implementation: By empanelled general insurance companies. The selection of the Implementing Agency (IA) is done by the concerned State Government through bidding.
• PMFBY 2.0: The revamped PMFBY is often called PMFBY 2.0, it has the following features:
  • Completely Voluntary: Enrolment is 100% voluntary for all farmers from 2020 Kharif.
  • Earlier, it was compulsory for loanee farmers availing Crop Loan/Kisan Credit Card (KCC) account for notified crops.
  • Limit to Central Subsidy: The Centre has decided to limit the PMFBY premium rates - against which it would bear 50% of the subsidy - to a maximum of 30% in unirrigated and 25% in irrigated areas.
  • More Flexibility to States: The government has given flexibility to states/UTs to implement PMFBY and given them the option to select any number of additional risk covers/features.
  • Investing in ICE Activities: Insurance companies have to now spend 0.5% of the total premium collected on information, education and communication (IEC) activities.

Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme:

• Launched in 2016 and is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Aim: To mitigate the hardship of the insured farmers against the likelihood of financial loss on account of anticipated crop loss resulting from adverse weather conditions relating to rainfall, temperature, wind, humidity etc.
• Parameter: WBCIS uses weather parameters as “a proxy. for crop yields in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop losses.