The accessible climate resilient agriculture programmes in India, crop diversification (NICRA), irrigation (PMKSY) and insurance (PMFBY) partially protect farmers against increasing climate hazards to reach 25-30 million beneficiaries per year through massive scale. PMFBY insured 24+ crore farmers with ₹1.4 lakh crore claims since 2016; PMKSY helped 20 lakh under watershed irrigation, stabilised yields 20-80% in targeted areas; 65-70% smallholders’ participation in schemes. 10-20% marginal farmers, tenants and rainfed cultivators continue to bear the risk of basis risks, payments, groundwater and poor integration (<15% scheme overlap). Climate-smart agriculture, like drought-resistant crops, drip irrigation and crop diversification. Technology also plays an important role in weather forecasting through apps, satellite-based farming guidance, AI driven Crop management.
PROBLEM CONTEXT
Agriculture is the backbone of India’s economy, playing a vital role in food security, employment, and economic development. It sustains the livelihoods of over 65% of the population, with nearly 55% of the workforce engaged in farming and allied activities. Contributing 6.4% to the country’s GDP, agriculture remains a key driver of economic growth. Despite diverse agro-climatic conditions, Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on the monsoon, making it highly vulnerable to variability in rainfall (Swami et al., 2018). Around 52% of India’s agricultural land is rain-fed, relying entirely on rainfall. Inconsistent monsoons can lead to droughts, floods, and crop failures, causing significant financial losses for farmers and a threat to the country’s food security.
POLICY RESPONSE, CLIMATE -RESILIENT AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME
Indian agriculture remains predominantly rainfed, covering about 60% of the country’s net sown area and accounts for 40% of the total food production. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for enhancing agricultural productivity, especially in rainfed areas, focusing on integrated farming, water use efficiency, soil health management and synergising resource conservation. The crop diversification, Irrigation and Crop insurance are the three pillars of the Climate Resilient Agriculture.
Crop Diversification (National Innovations in Climate-Resilient Agriculture)
- Crop diversification refers to the addition of new crops or cropping systems to agricultural production on a particular farm, taking into account the different returns from value-added crops with complementary marketing opportunities.
- The research conducted on Crop Diversification across the globe reveals that positive outcomes, including increased yields and household incomes, improved nutrition and food security, new marketing opportunities, reduced poverty, and strengthened adaptive and innovative capacity. The link between positive livelihood benefits and (increased) resilience.
- The study conducted in Europe found that increased crop diversity can maintain yields with reduced external inputs, under varying climatic conditions, with yield increases of 1 t/ha on average, and diversifying crop rotations can improve stress resistance, resulting in more resilient systems.
- In India, ICAR found that crop diversification in millets, pulses, oilseeds, and horticulture is so effective for the small landholders to build climate resilient crops to stabilise themselves financially.
Irrigation (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – PMKSY)
- The study conducted in Ethiopia with a sample size of 288 households, the result reveals that Small-scale irrigation significantly improves farm households’ 84.72 quintals per hectare livelihoods and mitigates the effects of climate change by enhancing their ability to respond to erratic weather events, which builds their resilience.
- In India, both the PRS Standing Committee, Promotion of Climate Resilient Farming and the NMSA report say that the Committee noted that irrigation infrastructure needs to be upgraded, especially in North-western India, and also noted that drip irrigation is currently only adopted for high-value horticultural crops. It is suggested for water management, Micro irrigation, that the government take a nuanced stance on the electricity subsidy meant for drawing groundwater.
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop’ in a focused manner with end to end solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and extension activities. Karnataka is the greatest beneficiary of the programme, benefiting nearly 201,125 farmers in 2022.
Crop Insurance ( Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana – PMFBY)
- Crop insurance is a crucial risk-mitigation tool that protects farmers from income losses due to natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, hailstorms, and pest infestations.
- The J-PAL review of 23 randomised evaluations in the world reveals that, in theory, insurance can raise the incentives of farmers to use more lucrative inputs, and can insure consumption in case of a shock, thus solving the low-investment, low-productivity trap associated with weather risk.
- The Government established the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) in 1973. It introduced a pilot crop insurance scheme in Gujarat in 1973, later extending it to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. In 1985, the first full-fledged crop insurance program, the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS), was launched, targeting loanee farmers. The sum insured was capped at Rs. 10,000 per farmer, with premium rates set at 2% for cereals and 1% for pulses and oilseeds. However, the scheme had limitations such as restricted crop coverage, capped insurance amounts, and availability only to loanee farmers.
- In 2016, NAIS and WBCIS were restructured into the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), focusing on yield and weather-based coverage, respectively. These two schemes continue to be the primary crop insurance programs in India.
| Metric | PMKSY-WDC (2022-26) | PMFBY (2018-25 Cumulative) | COMBINED TOTAL |
| Farmers Benefited | 20.13 Lakh | 425 Crore applications (~150-200 Cr unique farmers) | ~170-220 Cr farmer-years |
| Recent Year (2025) | 6.11 Lakh | 8.48 Cr applications (Kharif) 4.47 Cr (Rabi partial) | ~11-12 Cr (2025) |
| Peak Single Year | 5.71 Lakh (2024-25) | 5.27 Cr farmers (2023 Kharif) | ~6 Cr |
| Area Coverage | Watershed projects | ~2.5 Cr Lakh Ha (2018-25) | Comprehensive |
| Financial Protection | Infrastructure | ₹1.40 Lakh Cr claims paid | Prevention + Insurance |
EFFECTIVENESS OF REDUCING THE CLIMATE RISKS
- The NICRA project of ICAR and the Climate-Resilient Village (CRV) model of India entail the integration of stress-tolerant varieties, diversification of crops, water-harvesting, small-scale irrigation, agroforestry and weather advisory services; more than 400-450 CRVs have shown increased yields and less loss during drought/ flood years than neighbouring localities.
- A study by CEEW on the institutional capacity of Bihar and Odisha to reach its CRA target establishes that the structures (NICRA, NMSA, GKMS weather services, PMF BY) are present, but the implementation is hampered by limited human resources, poor interdepartmental coordination, lack of data and capacity of local planning.
RECOMMENDATIONS
| Priority | Recommendation | Rationale (based on data) | Implementation | Expected Impact |
| High | Mandatory Bundling: Link PMKSY irrigation + PMFBY insurance + NICRA diversification in all district CRA plans | PMFBY: 24Cr farmers insured, but no prevention PMKSY: 20L irrigated but no financial safety net | Amend NMSA guidelines; ₹5K Cr national fund (5% PMFBY premium) | 2x resilience; 30% yield stability gain |
| High | Tenant Inclusion: Digital land records + group insurance for sharecroppers (20% PMFBY quota) | 65% smallholders covered, but tenants excluded (basis risk issue) | Aadhaar-KCC linkage; pilot in 100 drought districts | +15% marginal farmer coverage |
| Medium | Micro-Insurance + AI: Weather-index + satellite yield estimation for PMFBY | Claim settlement delays remain a major concern in some states | IRDAI mandates: ₹1K Cr tech fund | Claims in <30 days; 25% basis risk reduction |
| Medium | Diversification Incentives: ₹2K/ha subsidy for climate-smart crop mixes (millets+pulses) | PMKSY irrigation is underutilised without market support | Integrate with PM-AASHA procurement | 20% income stabilisation vs monocrops |
| Low | Monitoring Dashboard: Unified PMKSY-PMFBY-NIC RA portal with grievance AI | Fragmented data (your tables show scale but no overlap metrics) | NITI Aayog lead; quarterly state rankings | Evidence-bas ed scaling; Karnataka model nationally |
CONCLUSION
The Indian climate-resilient agriculture programmes offer an incomplete yet meaningful cover to the farmers in the form of prevention, adaptation and financial compensation against increasing climate risks. PMKSY irrigation saves the reliance of farmers on unreliable monsoons and stabilises the yields, especially in drought-prone areas. Crop diversification that has been encouraged through NICRA enhances resilience through minimising dependence on climate-sensitive monocrops to allow farmers to switch to drought-resistant crops, including millets and pulses. Crop insurance under PMFBY offers financial protection through compensation to farmers who suffer losses due to extreme weather conditions, thus limiting income shocks and distress. The success of these programmes, however, is limited by poor coverage of marginal as well as tenant farmers, slowness in settlement of insurance claims, and poor coordination among irrigation, diversification and insurance interventions. Consequently, although these programmes make a huge contribution towards resilience among the participating farmers, a considerable number of the vulnerable farmers are still exposed to the growing climatic variability. Better integration of the programmes, covering the vulnerable farmers and enhancing the implementation mechanisms, will be necessary to offer greater protection to farmers in the event of a climate hazard to come. The policy of climate-resilient agriculture can be instrumental in achieving the long-term agricultural sustainability and security of livelihoods of farmers.
