Maharashtra: As climate change hits onion, farmers look for crop cover

Eknath Sanap, another farmer from Naigaon agreed. “The insurance cover is a good cushion for crop loss. Slowly farmers are opting for this,” he said.

Sanap and Pansare are not alone in realizing the benefits of the crop insurance scheme. The state agriculture department has seen a steady rise in onion farmers insuring their fields under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Government data shows that in 2024-25, over 7.43 lakh hectares of onion crop was insured in Maharashtra. Five years ago, in the year 2019-20, this number was just about 45,000 hectares (see box).

Officials say the decision to charge a nominal premium was one of the biggest reasons for this significant rise in insurance cover. “Since 2023, farmers in Maharashtra have to pay only Rs 1 as premium. This has boosted the area insured in the state,” said an Agriculture Department officer.

The biggest increase in farmers opting for insurance happened immediately after the premium was lowered.

Farmers say climate change, which has brought greater uncertainty in rainfall and made excessive rainfall a fairly frequent event, had also contributed to greater acceptance of the crop insurance scheme.

Maharashtra is the biggest onion producer of the country, accounting for over 34 per cent of the national production. In the last five monsoon seasons, its onion growing regions have reported excess rainfall especially in Nashik division for four of the five seasons. Heavy rainfall in the tail end of the monsoon has led to kharif losses. Also, heavy summer rainfall, especially in 2023, has led to losses in the rabi crop for farmers like Pansare.

Tushar Ugale, an onion agronomist from the Nashik-based KK Wagh College of Agriculture, said onion growers have faced issues due to frequent climatic changes over the last few years. Late November rains, he said, had led to rabi nursery beds being washed away. Onion, he said, requires constant climate and the variances led to attacks of fungus, thrips etc. “Crop insurance is now being seen as a safety net which allows some losses to be absorbed.”