Parliament Question: Resilience Measures for Flood Affected Farmers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2840 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 10TH MARCH, 2026 RESILIENCE MEASURES FOR FLOOD AFFECTED FARMERS 2840. SHRI VE VAITHILINGAM: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ(cid:874)ष एव ं(cid:873)कसान क(cid:227)याण म(cid:287)ं ी be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken steps to support farmers whose crops and farmland were damaged due to excess monsoon rainfall, floods, and siltation across various States/UTs, including Puducherry, if so, the details thereof; (b) if so, the details of measures recommended for crop insurance coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, provision of input subsidies, distribution of resilient seed varieties, soil restoration programmes, and financial assistance for re-sowing in affected districts; (c) whether the Government proposes to expand climate resilient agriculture initiatives, strengthen flood management coordination with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, and launch awareness campaigns on adaptive farming practices; and (d) the details of steps taken to ensure timely compensation, livelihood protection and long term resilience of farmers against excess rainfall and related calamities nationwide? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ(cid:874)ष एवं (cid:873)कसान क(cid:227)याण रा(cid:207)य मं(cid:287)ी (SHRI BHAGIRATH CHOUDHARY) (a) to (d): The primary responsibility for disaster management including disbursement of relief material rests with the State Governments concerned. The Central Government provides requisite logistics and financial support to the efforts of the State Governments. The State Governments provide financial relief to the affected people in the event of 12 notified natural disasters which includes cyclone and flood, from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), already placed at its disposal, in accordance with approved items and norms of Government of India (GOI). However, in the event of disaster of a severe nature, additional financial assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), as per laid down procedure, which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT). The financial assistance provided under SDRF and NDRF is by way of relief and not for compensation. The details of the allocation/release of the funds under the SDRF and NDRF is available on Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs website https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/ndmi/responsefundAs on 05.03.2026, 14 Nos of IMCTs have been constituted for on the spot assessment of the damages due to flood, landslides and cyclone in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana (for flood), Telangana (for cyclone), Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujrat, Nagaland, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and UT of Jammu & Kashmir Based on report of IMCT, an additional financial assistance is considered by the Government of India, as per the established procedure and norms. Government has introduced yield-based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) from Kharif 2016 to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities, adverse weather incidence and to stabilize the income of farmers etc. PMFBY provides for comprehensive risk insurance against crop damage from pre- sowing to post-harvest for crops and area notified by the concerned State Government. The scheme not only safeguards against wide spread yield loss due to non-preventable natural risks/ & extreme climate calamities viz. flood, inundation, landslide, drought, heat waves, hailstorm, cyclone, pests/diseases, natural fire and lightening, storm, typhoon, tempest, hurricane, tornado etc. but also, against farm level yield loss due to localized risks (hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloud burst and natural fire) and post-harvest losses due to cyclone, cyclonic/unseasonal rain and hailstorm and prevented sowing. This scheme is voluntary for State/UTs as well as farmers. All willing farmers are eligible to enrol under the scheme. UT of Puducherry has opted to implement the scheme. Government has taken various steps to strengthen implementation of the scheme, bring transparency and ensure timely settlement of claims under PMFBY:  Government has undertaken development of National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) as a single source of data ensuring subsidy payment, co-ordination, transparency, dissemination of information and delivery of services including direct online enrolment of farmers, uploading/obtaining individual insured famer’s details for better monitoring and to ensure transfer of claim amount electronically to the individual farmer’s Bank Account.  In order to rigorously monitor claim disbursal process, a dedicated module namely ‘Digiclaim Module’ has been operationalized for payment of claims from Kharif 2022 onwards. It involves integration of National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) with Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and accounting system of Insurance Companies to provide timely & transparent processing of all claims w.e.f. Kharif 2024, in case payment is not made timely by Insurance Company, penalty of 12% is auto-calculated and levied through NCIP. Delinking of Central Government share of premium subsidy from that of State Governments has been implemented so that farmers can get proportionate claims relating to the Central Government share.  Opening of ESCROW Account by the State Government concerned for deposit of their premium share in advance as per provisions of the scheme has been made mandatory w.e.f. Kharif 2025 season.  Also, towards leveraging technology in implementation of the scheme, various steps like capturing of yield data/Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) data through CCE-Agri App & uploading it on the NCIP, allowing insurance companies to witness the conduct of CCEs, integration of State land records with NCIP etc. have already been taken to improve timely settlement of the claims to farmers.  Tranche based claim settlement has been initiated w.e.f. Rabi 2024-25.” Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) implements an Agroforestry Component under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) that focuses on production of Quality Planting Material. Agroforestry helps combat climate change by sequestering carbon in trees and soil, reducing atmospheric CO₂ levels. It enhances land resilience by preventing soil erosion, improving water retention, and moderating local temperatures. Additionally, Agroforestry protects ecosystems from extreme weather events like droughts and storms, making it an effective strategy for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. DA&FW also implements Centrally sponsored scheme of Rainfed Area Development (RAD) which focuses on Integrated Farming System (IFS) for enhancing productivity and minimizing risks associated with climatic variability. Under RAD, crops/cropping system is integrated with activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agro-forestry, apiculture etc. to enable farmers not only in maximizing farm returns for sustaining livelihood, but also to mitigate the impacts of drought, flood or other extreme weather events. Financial assistance of Rs. 30,000/- is provided to each farming family under RAD component irrespective of the size of their land holding. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) implements a flagship network project National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) to strengthen climate resilience in agriculture and to promote climate-resilient agricultural practices across the country. The measures being implemented by NICRA are:District level risk and vulnerability assessment of 573 predominantly agriculture districts was carried out as per Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) protocol and location specific climate resilient technologies have been demonstrated in one village cluster from each of the 151 climatically vulnerable districts to the farmers through farmer participatory approach. At district level, KVKs facilitate in convergence with various schemes of line departments for upscaling the promising climate resilient practices. At village level, village climate risk management committees (VCRMCs), custom hiring centres (CHCs), seed banks and fodder banks help in spread of resilient technologies. Climate resilient technologies include climate resilient varieties, resilient intercropping systems, conservation agriculture, crop diversification from paddy to other alternate crops like pulses, oilseeds, agroforestry systems, zero till sowing, alternate methods of rice cultivation, green manuring, integrated farming systems, integrated nutrient and pest management, organic farming, in-situ moisture conservation, protective irrigation, micro irrigation etc. have been developed and demonstrated to large number of farmers. The studies indicate that change in sowing time, growing short duration, heat, drought and flood tolerant varieties with improved nutrient and water management strategies enhances the productivity of major crops. Developed District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs) for 651 districts in India covering weather aberrations and recommended location specific climate resilient crops and varieties and management practices for use by the State departments (Available at https://agriwelfare.gov.in/en/DocAgriContPlan). Capacity building programs are also conducted to farmers and other stakeholders related to impact of climate change and their adaptation and mitigation measures. Flood management and anti-erosion schemes are formulated and implemented by concerned State Governments as per their priority. The Union Government supplements the efforts of the States by providing technical guidance and also promotional financial assistance for management of floods in critical areas. Integrated flood approach aims at adopting judicious mix of structural and non-structural measures to provide a reasonable degree of protection against flood damages at economic cost. Union Government implements a centrally sponsored "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP)" providing central assistance to States for works related to flood control, anti-erosion, drainage development, anti-sea erosion, etc. during 2021-26 with outlay of Rs 4100 crore. Ministry of Jal Shakti has recommended that the States need to adopt flood plain zoning approach as a non-structural measure of flood management in the country. In order to enable States to undertake scientific assessment of flood plains and its zoning as a non-structural measure of flood mitigation, a technical guideline on Flood Plain Zoning is prepared and circulated to the States/UTs in August, 2025 by Ministry of Jal Shakti. *****