Farmers have got Rs 90,000 crore in claims under PMFBY, says Tomar

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday said that over crores of farmers have been linked to Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and claims of Rs 90,000 crore have been settled under in five years from 2014.

"In this largest agriculture insurance scheme of the world, farmers have got Rs 90,000 crore in claims," he said.

Tomar said crop insurance is "suraksha kavach (security shield)" for farmers from crop losses due to natural disasters.

He said success achieved in completing a five-year journey of the scheme has yielded many experiences.

"We all know the importance of agriculture in our country. Agriculture provides employment to almost half of the country's population. There was a time when we used to worry about food. There was a time when we used to be concerned about foodgrains, but with the farmer-friendly policies of the government, hard work of the farmers and research of our agricultural scientists, today our concern is not about production but how to manage the production," Tomar said.

"Today, when we think from the point of view of crop management, then we definitely have to think about crop diversification. The Centre and state governments are working to see that farmers get better price for their produce," he added.

The minister said that the agriculture sector will get the benefit of the Atmrbhar package to the tune of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

He said the sector was vulnerable in case of natural calamities and Fasal Bima Yojana had been planned to prevent the loss to farmers.

The minister said the focus of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the development of villages, farmers and the agriculture sector.

( With inputs from ANI )