Lok Sabha Question No. 2840 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-10
Subject: Resilience Measures for Flood Affected Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Ve Vaithilingam

## 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 10 TH  MARCH, 2026

## RESILIENCE MEASURES FOR FLOOD AFFECTED FARMERS

2840.  SHRI VE VAITHILINGAM:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी 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 ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण राÏय मंğी (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/responsefund

As  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 presowing  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 CO ₂ 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.

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