The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will provide technical support to two government programmes: the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Kisan Credit Card-Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (KCC-MISS).
According to an official statement, the Agriculture Ministry and the UNDP have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which "UNDP will provide technical support towards the Centre's aspirational Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) scheme and Kisan Credit Card - Modified Interest Subvention Scheme."
In the presence of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, CEO-PMFBY Ritesh Chauhan and UNDP Resident Representative Shoko Noda signed the MoU.
UNDP will use its systems expertise and global know-how to assist the Agriculture Ministry in implementing combined agriculture credit and crop insurance under the provisions of the MoU.
The signing event was also attended by State Minister of Agriculture Kailash Choudhary and Secretary of Agriculture Manoj Ahuja.
"The Union Agriculture Ministry is executing the initiatives in the interest of crores of farmers throughout the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. All farmers have a direct advantage, " Tomar said.
Farmers have got more than Rs 1.15 lakh crore in compensation after paying a premium of Rs 21,000 crore under PMFBY. This demonstrates that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is benefiting the whole farming community.
"Similarly, tremendous efforts are being made under the Kisan Credit Card System to provide benefits to farmers who were previously unable to take advantage of the scheme. All small farmers, livestock farmers, and fishermen are being reached out to "he added.
The KCC-MISS and PMFBY were created with the goal of addressing the shortcomings of prior schemes and laying forth a framework that provides better implementation alternatives for all stakeholders while attaining the intended outcomes.
As per the MoU, UNDP will provide responsive, demand-driven technical assistance for the effective implementation of agriculture credit and crop insurance, as well as capacity development and Information, Education & Communication (IEC) support to existing national and state institutions, while keeping small and marginal farmers, women farmers, sharecroppers, tenant and non-loanee farmers in mind.
Tomar stated this of the UNDP's strategic collaboration, "UNDP's technical support has had positive effects over the previous 4 years. I am certain that by working together, we will be able to achieve even greater outcomes in terms of crop insurance and agricultural credit schemes."
