Jammu: The Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday accorded in principle sanction to the adoption of the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) in respect of Horticulture Crops viz Apple, Saffron, Mango and Litchi for the State of Jammu and Kashmir in addition to “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana” (PMFB) as per the operational guidelines of the scheme circulated by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India w.e.f Kharif 2016 and for implementation in the State by the Agriculture Production Department.
Cabinet directed the Agriculture Production Department to concretize the scheme in consultation with the Finance and the Planning Development & Monitoring Department before its final roll out.
WBCIS uses weather parameters as “proxy” for crop yields in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop losses. Pay-out structures are developed to the extent of losses deemed to have been suffered using the weather triggers.
The objective of WBCIS is to provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of adverse weather incidences including deficit rainfall, excess rainfall, unseasonal rains, dry-spell, wind etc.
