The Centre, on Friday, extended the cut-off date for insuring 2016-17 rabi (winter) crops till January 10.
The deadline for enrolment of farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) — the comprehensive crop insurance scheme launched early this year — was to expire on Saturday.
The extension aims at helping farmers who could not avail the scheme due to demonetisation of currency notes, take crop insurance, an official release of the Agriculture Ministry said.
“It has been brought to the notice of this department that stakeholders, including farmers and banks/financial institutions, are facing difficulty under the PMFBY during 2016-17 rabi season due to demonetisation. It has been decided to extend it up to January 10, 2017,” the Agriculture Ministry said in a directive issued to banks, insurers and State governments.
A 10-day extension was given even during the kharif season when the cut-off date for enrolment was extended to August 10 from July 31 as States had delayed notifying the new scheme.
“The extension of the last date for enrolment during the kharif season and the current rabi season are for reasons that are exceptional. It should not be taken as the rule. During the next crop season, we will stick to the given timeline unless there is some contingency,” a government official told BusinessLine .
The PMFBY, which replaced the older National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and the modified NAIS, seeks to provide farmers with comprehensive insurance against vagaries of nature at very low premia of 2 per cent of the insured value for the kharif crop and 1.5 per cent for the rabi crop.
Insurance coverage climbed substantially under the PMFBY in kharif season 2016-17, with 3.74 crore farmers insuring their crops, compared to around 3.10 crore last year.