Newz Desk, Durgapur : In a significant policy shift aimed at enhancing risk protection for cultivators, the Central government has formalised new modalities under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to include compensation for crop losses caused by wild animal attacks and paddy inundation.
Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare confirmed that these provisions will be implemented nationwide from Kharif 2026.
Under the revised structure, losses due to wild animal attacks have been categorised as the fifth add-on cover within PMFBY’s Localised Risk component. State governments will prepare an official list of animals responsible for crop destruction and identify high-risk districts or insurance units based on historical patterns of damage.
Farmers suffering such losses must report the incident within 72 hours, uploading geotagged photos using the Crop Insurance App, to ensure transparent and time-bound verification.
The Centre noted that the changes come in response to repeated demands from various states, which argued that sudden, localised attacks by wild animals often lead to severe and uncompensated losses.
Paddy inundation — excluded from PMFBY in 2018 due to assessment challenges and concerns over moral hazard — has also been reinstated as part of the scheme’s Localised Calamity Cover.
Its return is expected to reduce the protection gap for paddy farmers in flood-prone and coastal regions, including Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand, where seasonal flooding and submergence are frequent occurrences.
The new modalities have been drafted in alignment with PMFBY’s Operational Guidelines to ensure that assessment and claim settlement remain scientific, transparent, and feasible across states.
Officials emphasised that the updated framework will strengthen farmers’ resilience against climate-linked and sudden localised agricultural shocks.
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