GUWAHATI, Oct 31 - The State Government is all set to implement the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for the first time from the Rabi 2016-17 season.
Senior officials told The Assam Tribune today that an ambitious target has been fixed to cover 5.53 lakh farmers under the PMFBY for the Rabi 2016-17 season.
�We are all set to implement PMFBY in Assam from this Rabi season. The target for the Rabi 2016-17 season under the new crop insurance scheme is 5,53,000 farmers,� Mowsam Hazarika, Assistant Director of Agriculture (Crop Insurance and Horticulture) said.
He added that the crops to be covered during Rabi 2016-17 are summer paddy, wheat, potato, sugarcane, rape and mustard.
This will be followed by coverage of crops like Ahu paddy, Sali paddy, jute, black gram and green gram during the Kharif 2017 season.
The State Level Coordination Committee on Crop Insurance meeting today under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner KK Mittal gave the final nod for implementation of the scheme in Assam.
�Approximately 77,344 Crop Cutting Experiments (CCE) have to be done for the coming PMFBY, as against 11,000 earlier. The Planning and Development Department has taken over the work of conducting the CCEs,� informed Hazarika.
Meanwhile, sources said that the Director of Agriculture has already completed the bidding process under PMFBY. National Insurance Company Ltd was the lowest bidder for all the five clusters in Assam and will implement the scheme across the State.
�To improve yield data quality and timeliness, smart phones will be utilised. A total of 5,000 smart phones for 2,640 Gram Panchayats will be required,� said an official, adding that training of Agriculture Department officers, including Agriculture Extension Assistants, besides publicity and awareness among the farmers will be organised for implementation of PMFBY.
Sources added that there is no Budget provision for implementation of the scheme.
But contingency fund proposal/supplementary demand proposal for an amount of Rs 39,52,43,817 (excluding expenditure of CCE), which includes pending dues of Rs 7,54,08,816, has already been submitted to the State Government by the Agriculture Department for implementation of the scheme, they said.
While the Rabi 2016-17 season will see introduction of the PMFBY, during the Kharif 2016 season, the restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) was implemented in Assam.
Two companies, namely Reliance GIC and HDFC GIC were selected on the basis of bidding process. A total of 51,323 farmers were covered during the Kharif 2016 season.
The total area insured was over 36,364 hectares and the total premium stood at Rs 6,86,58,614. The total insured was to the tune of Rs 94,46,38,874, officials said.
The Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme was started during the Kharif 2014 season and continued till the Kharif 2016 season.
The PMFBY was officially launched in January 13 this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will be implemented in all the States across India in association with the respective State governments.
