New Delhi, Nov 18 : In a major benefit to farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has introduced new modalities for covering crop loss due to wild animal attacks and paddy inundation in flood-prone areas under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), according to an official statement issued on Tuesday.

Under the revised framework, crop loss due to wild animal attacks will now be recognised as the fifth add-on cover under the 'Localised Risk' category.

States will notify the list of wild animals responsible for crop damage and identify vulnerable districts or insurance units based on historical data.

Farmers will be required to report losses within 72 hours using the Crop Insurance App by uploading geotagged photographs, the statement said.

The decisions have been taken in response to long-standing requests from several States and are aimed at strengthening protection for farmers against sudden, localised, and severe crop damage.

The modalities have been prepared in accordance with the PMFBY Operational Guidelines, ensuring a scientific, transparent and operationally feasible framework for implementation nationwide, and will be rolled out from Kharif 2026, the statement said.

For years, farmers across India have suffered increasing crop losses due to attacks by wild animals like elephants, wild boars, nilgai, deer, and monkeys. These incidents are common in regions situated near forests, wildlife corridors, and hilly terrains. Until now, such losses often went uncompensated as they were not covered under crop insurance.

At the same time, paddy farmers in flood-prone and coastal States have been repeatedly affected by inundation during heavy rains and overflowing waterways.

Paddy inundation was removed from the localised calamity category in 2018 due to concerns about moral hazard and the difficulty of assessing submerged crops. However, its exclusion led to a significant gap in protection for farmers in districts prone to seasonal flooding.

Taking note of these emerging risks and challenges, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare constituted an expert committee.

The recommendations of the committee have now been approved by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

With this important decision, farmers suffering localised crop damage will now receive timely and technology-based claim settlement under PMFBY, the statement said.

This coverage is expected to significantly benefit farmers in States with high humanâ??wildlife conflict, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, as well as the Himalayan and North-Eastern States such as Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh, where incidents of wild animal depredation are frequent and widespread.

Reintroducing Paddy Inundation as a Localised Calamity Cover under PMFBY will especially benefit farmers in coastal and flood-prone States, including Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, where paddy submergence is a recurring challenge.

Together with the inclusion of Wild Animal Attack, these additions make PMFBY more inclusive, responsive and farmer-friendly, further strengthening the resilience of Indiaâ??s crop insurance system, the statement added.

/IANS