SRINAGAR: The Union Territory of Ladakh has accelerated plans to expand crop insurance coverage for farmers and orchardists, with the administration reviewing a comprehensive roadmap for implementing the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) during the 2026-27 financial year.
The push gained momentum on Tuesday when Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra chaired a meeting of the State Level Coordination Committee on Crop Insurance (SLCCCI) and stressed the need to make insurance products more farmer-friendly and responsive to Ladakh’s unique climatic challenges.
During the meeting, Secretary Agriculture and Horticulture Bhupesh Chaudhary presented the proposed framework for implementing the weather-index-based insurance scheme, which seeks to provide financial protection against adverse weather events rather than crop yield losses.
The proposed coverage includes Ladakh’s major horticultural crops, particularly apricot and apple, with insurance protection against minimum temperature fluctuations, unseasonal rainfall and snowfall. The administration is also planning coverage for annual commercial crops such as potato and peas under PMFBY.
Reviewing the proposals, Kundra emphasized that farmer welfare should remain at the centre of all crop insurance initiatives and directed departments to ensure the creation of a reliable farmer database and effective onboarding of eligible beneficiaries on the insurance portal.
In a significant suggestion aimed at increasing participation, the Chief Secretary proposed exploring options under which the UT Administration could bear the insurance premium burden for small orchard owners possessing up to 20 fruit-bearing trees. The proposal, if adopted, would substantially reduce the financial burden on small farmers and encourage wider enrolment.
Kundra also called for a detailed assessment of historical weather and crop damage data while finalising insurance products. Referring to losses suffered by farmers during recent extreme weather events, he said insurance schemes must be realistic and capable of providing meaningful compensation when adverse conditions affect crops.
The meeting reviewed premium rates, pay-out mechanisms, weather thresholds and risk parameters proposed under the insurance framework. The Chief Secretary directed the Agriculture and Horticulture Department to examine whether rainfall and temperature trigger levels require further refinement to better reflect local climatic conditions and crop vulnerability patterns.
Discussions also covered subsidy-sharing arrangements among farmers, the UT Administration and the Government of India, crop-cutting experiments, yield estimation methodologies and awareness campaigns to improve participation.
Emphasising the importance of public outreach, Kundra said farmers must be fully informed about the benefits of crop insurance and encouraged departments to undertake extensive awareness programmes across the districts of Ladakh.
Officials said the proposed insurance framework is expected to strengthen financial security for farmers and orchardists, particularly in a region increasingly vulnerable to weather-related risks and climate variability.
