Organisation : Department of Agriculture
Facility : WBCIS Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme
Applicable For : Insured Farmers
Details : https://www.statusin.in/uploads/38068-FINAL_WBCIS.pdf
Home Page : http://www.agri-insurance.gov.in/
Agri Insurance WBCIS Scheme
Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) aims to mitigate the hardship of the insured farmers against the likelihood of financial loss on account of anticipated crop loss resulting from adverse weather conditions relating to rainfall, temperature, wind, humidity etc.
Related / Similar Facility : PMFBY Application Status
WBCIS uses weather parameters as “proxy‟ for crop yields in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop losses. Payout structures are developed to the extent of losses deemed to have been suffered using the weather triggers.
Weather Perils to be Covered
1. Following major weather perils, which are deemed to cause “Adverse Weather Incidence”, leading to crop loss, shall be covered under the scheme:
a) Rainfall – Deficit Rainfall, Excess rainfall, Unseasonal Rainfall, Rainy days, Dry-spell, Dry days
b) Temperature– High temperature (heat), Low temperature
c) Relative Humidity
d) Wind Speed
e) A combination of the above
f) Hailstorm, cloud-burst may also be covered as Add-on/Index-Plus products for those farmers who have already taken normal coverage under WBCIS.
The perils listed above are only indicative and not exhaustive and any addition / deletion may be considered by State Govt. in consultation with insurance companies based on availability of relevant data.
2. State Government shall consider to cover such perils which are capable of causing severe & quantifiable loss and can be induced directly or indirectly by change in measurable weather parameters to capture the losses during the adverse climatic conditions and have demonstrated correlation with quantifiable yield losses of crop due to such perils.
3. Only adverse weather incidences which can cause substantial crop losses should only be covered, or the triggers identified in such a way that major losses are captured.
Too conservative triggers tend to lead to frequent but smaller payouts, diluting the indemnity principle of insurance.
4. State Governments will also continue to conduct the requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) in areas where WBCIS is implemented to enable the implementing agencies to make analytical study for assessing performance of the Scheme vis-à-vis yield Index based crop Insurance Schemes (i.e. PMFBY) and Benchmarking of products.
5. The specific “Adverse Weather Incidence” with its timing / duration applicable to a particular Notified crop shall be notified by the SLCCCI.
Selection of Areas & Crops
1. SLCCCI shall, for the purpose of selection of crops under WBCIS, consider factors such as availability of historical weather data, minimum cropped area, weather perils capable of causing significant & quantifiable losses by change in measurable weather parameters etc.
2. State Govt. may convene meetings with insurance providers and experts of Agro-meteorology / agronomy from State Agriculture Universities, Research Institutes etc. for finalization of triggers, term-sheets and pay-out etc. before SLCCCI meeting.
A Technical Committee may be constituted by the State Government for selection of crop(s), area(s), weather triggers under WBCIS, examination of proposals received from the Insurance Companies, and finalization of term-sheets for the proposed crop(s) / area(s) based on demonstrated correlation with historical weather & yield data and further evaluation of products & benefits to the farmers on insurance principles.
3. The Scheme shall operate on the principle of “Area Approach” in selected notified RUAs. Therefore, State Govt. may notify the smallest possible areas as insurance units / RUAs, which should be preferably, the Village Panchayat / Revenue Circle / Mandal / Hobli / Block / Tehsil etc.
Sum Insured
1. The Sum Insured (SI) for each notified crop is pre-defined and will be same for loanee and non-loanee farmers, which will be based on the ‘Scale of finance’ as decided by the District Level Technical Committee.
If the scale of finance is not declared by DLTC the sum insured will be broadly based on the cost of cultivation of the crops and will be decided by State Government.
Sum Insured for individual farmer is equal to the Sum Insured multiple by acreage of the notified crop. ‘Area under cultivation’ shall always be expressed in ‘hectare’.
2. The Sum Insured of the crop may be distributed among the critical phases of the crop based on the accumulating input costs in its growing path of the crop during that phase.
However, the sum insured assigned to the subsequent phases may be the summation of its previous phases to provide adequate compensation on damage of crop at later stages.