PMFBY to Include Wild Animal Crop Damage as Add-on Cover; Farmers Must Report Loss Within 72 Hours
19 November 2025, New Delhi: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has approved a new add-on cover under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to include crop loss caused by wild animal attacks. The cover has been placed under the Localised Risk category and will be implemented nationwide from Kharif 2026.
As per the approved framework, farmers will be required to report crop loss within 72 hours through the Crop Insurance App. Claims must be supported by geotagged photographs, ensuring verifiable and location-based evidence. States will notify the list of wild animals responsible for crop damage and identify vulnerable districts or insurance units based on historical data.
Crop loss due to wild animal attacks is reported frequently in regions located near forests, wildlife corridors and hilly terrain. Incidents involving elephants, wild boars, nilgai, deer and monkeys are common in several states, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, as well as in the Himalayan and North-Eastern states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh.
The new cover aims to provide formal risk protection for farmers facing sudden and localised crop damage caused by wildlife. The modalities have been developed in line with PMFBY Operational Guidelines to standardise reporting, assessment and claim settlement through technology-based processes.
Once implemented from Kharif 2026, the inclusion of wild animal damage is expected to strengthen the crop insurance framework for farmers across diverse agro-ecological regions.
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