To offer financial assistance to farmers who experience crop losses.
To stabilize the income of farmers, ensuring they can continue their farming activities.
To promote the adoption of modern agricultural techniques.
To enhance the flow of credit to the agriculture sector, supporting food security and crop diversification.
Promoting innovation & research of insurance and allied products so-as-to offer expanded choice to the farmers and the State Governments/UT Administrations.

Launch date: 2016
Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Coverage of Crops
- Food crops (Cereals, Millets, Pulses)
- Oilseeds
- Annual Commercial / Horticultural crops

Note: Scheme covers crops for which past yield data is available and for which requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) will be conducted being a part of the General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES).

Risks Covered

Yield Losses (Standing Crops on Notified Area Basis):
- Natural Fire & Lightning
- Storms, Cyclones, Hurricanes, Tornadoes
- Floods, Inundation, Landslides
- Drought, Dry Spells
- Pests & Diseases
Prevented Sowing (Notified Area Basis):
- If adverse weather prevents sowing, insured farmers can claim up to 25% of the sum insured.
- The sum insured is the amount that the insurance company pays to the policyholder in the case of an unpredictable event
Post-Harvest Losses (Individual Farm Basis):
- Covers up to 14 days after harvesting for crops left in cut and spread condition against cyclonic/unseasonal rains.
Localized Calamities (Individual Farm Basis):
- Covers hailstorms, landslides, and inundation affecting specific farms.
Add on: States may consider providing add-on coverage for crop loss due to attack by wild animals wherever the risk is perceived to be substantial and is identifiable.
Exclusions
- War, riots, malicious damage, theft.
- Grazing/destruction by domestic or wild animals.
- Losses due to preventable risks.
- Bundled or heaped harvested crops before threshing (for post-harvest losses).
Annual Premium
- Kharif Crops: 2% of sum insured.
- Rabi Crops: 1.5% of sum insured.
- Annual Commercial/Horticultural Crops: 5% of sum insured.
- The difference between premium and the rate of Insurance charges payable by farmers is provided as subsidy and shared equally by the Centre and State.
- For North-Eastern States (90:10) from Kharif 2020
Eligibility: All Farmer having insurable interest can be covered under these scheme including sharecroppers and tenant farmers.
- Earlier the scheme was mandatory for farmers availing crop loans/Kisan Credit Card loans for the notified crops and notified areas and optional for others.
- However, the Scheme has now been made optional for all farmers w.e.f. Kharif 2020 season.
Coverage is not provided for 100% of the crop value.
PMFBY scheme is exempted from Goods and Service Tax.
Implementing Agency: Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) and the concerned State.

Recent Technological Initiatives under the Scheme

Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT)
- Corpus of ₹824.77 Crore to enhance technology adoption.
- Supports YES-TECH, WINDS, and R&D studies.
YES-TECH (Yield Estimation System using Technology)
- Uses Remote Sensing Technology for crop yield estimation.
- 30% weightage to technology-based yield estimates.
- Implemented in 9 major states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
- Madhya Pradesh has adopted 100% technology-based yield estimation.
WINDS (Weather Information and Network Data Systems)
- Establishes Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at block level and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs) at panchayat level.