The Chief Minister's Office of Maharashtra announced on Tuesday, 23 June 2026 that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired a high-level meeting at Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai, focused on the concerns of banana cultivators and directing a technology-driven overhaul of the state's crop insurance compensation process.

Context

The meeting was convened to address long-standing grievances of banana farmers over delays and inaccuracies in crop insurance settlements. CM Fadnavis directed that the Agriculture Department and the Disaster Management Department jointly conduct drone surveys in the coming period to obtain precise data on crop losses caused by natural calamities. The directive aims to eliminate ambiguity in damage estimation that has historically slowed compensation payouts.

Insurance companies were instructed to cross-verify local administration records of banana crop damage and to immediately process compensation after checking real-time data, data from the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC), and satellite imagery. The Chief Minister stated that eligible farmers must face no hardship, given the state government's substantial financial participation in crop insurance schemes.

Policy Backdrop

Maharashtra has been a participant in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) since 2016, providing subsidised crop insurance for both food and horticultural crops. The state has progressively integrated satellite and remote sensing tools into agricultural governance — earlier policy frameworks from 2020–2023 had already emphasised the use of such technologies for crop-cutting experiments and claim verification.

The banana crop insurance scheme offers coverage of Rs 1.70 lakh per hectare, protecting farmers against natural calamities, hailstorms, low temperatures, high-velocity winds, and extreme heat. In Jalgaon district, one of Maharashtra's most significant banana-growing belts, more than 99,000 insurance applications were received for the 2025–26 season. MRSAC conducted large-scale area verification using satellite imagery to accurately establish the extent of actual cultivation and filter eligible claimants.

CM Fadnavis emphasised that advanced technology must also be deployed to strengthen the verification process and curb fraudulent claims — a dual mandate of protecting genuine farmers while plugging systemic leakages.

Stakeholders and Impact

Banana cultivation is among the highest-value crops in Maharashtra, and farmers — particularly in districts such as Jalgaon — depend heavily on insurance payouts to recover from weather-related losses. The new directives are designed to ensure that eligible cultivators receive timely and accurate compensation without navigating bureaucratic delays.

Crop insurance companies operating in the state have been put on notice to align their settlement processes with government-verified data from drones and satellites, leaving little room for under-reporting of damage. The broader implication is a shift toward data-sahit sheti (data-backed farming governance), where technology mediates between field reality and financial relief.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with ministers Girish Mahajan, Sanjay Sawkare, Dattatray Bharane, Gulabrao Patil, Bharat Gogawale, Makrand Jadhav-Patil, and senior officials.

What's Next

The Agriculture and Disaster Management departments are expected to operationalise the joint drone survey framework in the near term, with Jalgaon and other banana-growing districts likely to be the first areas covered. Claim processing reports from these districts will serve as an early indicator of whether the technology-integration push translates into faster, fraud-free settlements.

CM Fadnavis reaffirmed that protecting farmers' interests and strengthening the agriculture sector remain the state government's highest priority — signalling that the technology-first approach to crop insurance is set to expand beyond bananas to other high-value horticultural crops across Maharashtra.