“We often invest our entire savings into our farmlands, hoping that the rain gods will grace us and provide us enough to sustain our livelihoods. But the reality is very different--erratic climatic patterns, undue physical labor,unsafe field conditions, and working around big, bulky machinery fills us with a lot of dread”, laments Mr R.K Singh, 35 from Patna, Bihar.  

Despite providing the very fibre of life to more than 130 Cr people in our country, farmers have to bear the brunt of agricultural vulnerabilities and insecurity.  There are so many risks a farmer is exposed to during cultivating his crop – loss of yield, and quality due to inconsistent rainfall, drought, floods, farming accidents, pests and diseases, and low-price realization due to market gluts.

“The prevalence of physical harm is still a reality in today’s modernized farming. There are many heavy equipments that we find ourselves around, fatal accidents are becoming common as more farmers rush to adopt new infrastructure to boost profits without having the proper knowledge to make use of these equipments”, says M.P Perumal, 29 from Tamil Nadu.  

With the pandemic having given rise to a dire state of financial insecurity, it has become even more difficult for the farmers to take care of the hospital expenses and financially secure their dependents in the times of these events.  Hence, it is important that farmers have access to tailor-made personal accident coverages. While there are many insurances covering some of these events by way of customized weather and crop insurance (PMFBY) products, the risks due to farming accidents are poorly covered and mostly ignored.  


The Annadata Suraksha Abhiyaan (Freeing Indian Farmer – Annadatas – from Risks) provides accident insurance to smallholder farmers to safeguard farmers’ livelihoods and build greater healthcare resilience within farming communities. It promotes the culture of insurance across rural India through highly subsidized insurance costs of less than INR 100 per farmer per year. The vision is to safeguard the lives of farmers across India (our Annadatas) by enabling access to comprehensive insurance policies for themselves and their families.  


Samunnati, a specialized agri value chain enabler will act as the facilitator and the promoter of the ‘Annadata Suraksha Abhiyaan’ with NAFPO as supporting partner and Sattva as implementation partner. Choosing to lead by example, Samunnati with various sources and support of its team (through payroll giving) has initiated funding the premium of 50,000 farmers for the initial cover and aspires to cover 5 Mn smallholder farmers and their families from farming related risks by 2025 through crowdfunding and corporate CSR partnerships.

Countless farmers are experiencing the real risk of agricultural vulnerabilities while simultaneously battling with the risks associated with farming just to feed their families and subsequently, our country. By joining us today in safeguarding 2 lakh farmers’ livelihoods, it is a chance for you to do your bit for the millions of livelihoods that are at stake to feed the 2nd most populous country in the world.