Lok Sabha Question No. 2699 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-05
Subject: Dissemination of Schemes' Information to Farmers in Remote Areas
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Smt. Bijuli Kalita Medhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2699

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05 th  August, 2025

## Dissemination of Schemes' Information to Farmers in Remote Areas

2699.  Smt. Bijuli Kalita Medhi

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष और ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of measures which are being taken to ensure farmers in remote areas are informed about the scheme's benefits, given the voluntary nature of the program;
- (b) the  increase  in  Automatic  Weather  Stations  and  Rain  Gauges  specifically  benefit States like Rajasthan (arid zones) and Kerala (monsoon-dependent crops);
- (c) whether  there  are  any  plans  to  extend  the  Yield  Estimation  System  Based  on Technology (YES-TECH) and Weather Information and Network Data System (WINDS) to include AI-driven analytics or machine learning to predict crop risks more effectively in the long term; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण राÏय मंğी (SHRI RAM NATH THAKUR)

(a)            The  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers Welfare  (DA&FW) is implementing  a Central Sector Scheme 'Mass Media Support to Agriculture Extension' through DD Regional Kendra, DD Kisan and All India Radio to create awareness and dissemination of scheme benefits among the farming community across the country including remote areas. Under the scheme, 18 DD Regional Kendras, 97 FM stations of AIR and DD Kisan are being utilized for wider publicity of department schemes, on-going initiatives, policy decisions, advisories etc. In addition, "Audio-Visual spots are being used to broadcast and telecast information about the  DA&FW  schemes  through  Doordarshan,  All  India  Radio,  and  private  TV  and  radio channels as a part of 'Focused Publicity and Awareness Campaign'.

Besides, the publicity & awareness is also carried out through Outdoor Publicity as well as through print advertisements in leading newspapers across the country. The social media platforms viz Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, LinkedIn, Whatsapp, Public App etc are also being used for better outreach and wider publicity about details of Farmers Welfare Schemes of the Department.

(b) to (d) The Department of Agriculture & Farmer's Welfare is implementing a Central Sector Scheme - 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana' (PMFBY) to provide financial support to farmers at the time of losses due to natural calamities, a yield index-based 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana' (PMFBY) and weather index based 'Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme' (RWBCIS) have been introduced in the country from Kharif 2016 season. It is a demand driven scheme and financial liability on premium subsidy to farmers is shared by the Central and State Government on 50: 50 basis and 90 : 10 in  North Eastern States & other Hilly states, with effect from Kharif 2020 season.  The scheme is voluntary for the States since inception and for all farmers w.e.f. Kharif 2020.

As a support mechanism to assist the farmers, 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.

Further, the Scheme has introduced various technological interventions against climate related  crop  losses  like  WINDS  and  YES-TECH.  The  details  of  these  technological interventions in the Scheme are as under:

- a)  WINDS (Weather Information Network & Data System)- is a pioneering initiative of the country  to  set-up  a  network  of  Automatic  Weather  Stations  &  Rain  Gauges  at Taluk/Block and Gram Panchayat level, respectively, to create a strong database of hyper-local weather data for the different Govt. and other entities to use for all farmer and farming oriented services.
- b)  YES-Tech  (Yield  Estimation  based  on  Technology)-  is  a  technology-based  yield estimation mechanism which has been developed after 2 years of rigorous testing and pilot  runs  across  100  districts  of  the  country.  Crop  Loss  assessment  and  Yield estimation  are  assisted  by  data  received  from  Remote  Sensing  indices,  Weather indices, crop phenological information, soil types etc. using approved technologies/approaches for the benefit of farmers.

The states of Rajasthan and Kerala are implementing WINDS (Weather Information Network & Data System) under which Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) & Automatic Rain  Gauges  (ARGs)  will  be  set  up  across  the  state  for  generating  a  weather database.

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