SBP expands Crop Loan Insurance Scheme to ‘CLIS+’ adding tech-based risk assessment, enhanced farmer protection

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has expanded the Crop Loan Insurance Scheme as ‘CLIS Plus’, offering several key enhancements to make crop loan insurance more comprehensive with enhanced payout and crop coverage, additional farmer protection and technology-driven trigger mechanisms

KARACHI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2026) The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has expanded the Crop Loan Insurance Scheme as ‘CLIS Plus’, offering several key enhancements to make crop loan insurance more comprehensive with enhanced payout and crop coverage, additional farmer protection and technology-driven trigger mechanisms.

The Government of Pakistan will provide Insurance Premium Subsidy to the borrowers with up to 25 acres of landholdings across the country except Baluchistan- where threshold is up to 32 acres- by bearing a maximum 2 percent of insurance premium per crop per season, said a press release issued here Thursday.

As an additional benefit, the CLIS+ also offers, to the eligible calamity affected farmer, one time loss of income payment as well as personal accident and injury coverage.

The Crop Loan Insurance Scheme, introduced in 2008 and later updated in 2014, has been revised to CLIS+, according to a circular of the Agriculture Credit and Financial Inclusion Department of SBP, after consultations among the Finance Division, Asian Development Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Insurance Association of Pakistan (IAP) and SUPARCO.

The CLIS+ is a mandatory scheme that encompasses all crop production loans, collateralized or uncollateralized, for crops including Wheat, Rice, Sugarcane, Maize, Cotton, and Potato, and provides all borrowers insurance cover from sowing or transplanting of the crop to its harvest.

The scheme defines the natural calamities in two types for payment of indemnity on the occurrence of production loss due to; Type I: Natural calamities like heavy rains, floods, and drought; and Type II: Natural calamities like hailstorms, frost, heatwaves, crop diseases and pest infestations (locust attack).

A significant progress has been made in leverage of modern technologies, introducing technology-driven trigger mechanisms in the scheme.

Besides any land revenue document, a digital survey report issued by a reputed Agri-tech company is acceptable as a proof of cultivation while Designated Technology Partners (DTPs) have been given key roles in the calamity confirmation framework.

Type I calamities will be determined through tech-based calamity triggers while Type II shall be declared by the relevant government authorities, and Post-harvest yield modeling shall be conducted at Tehsil level.

In case of a calamity, the DTP(s) will certify, for contractual purposes, the hazard occurrence and yield loss and issue hazard alerts and certificates. A contractual claim trigger will be constituted if the certificate confirms yield loss of 50 percent or more with a modeling reliability of at least 90 percent.

In Type II peril, claim settlement process initiates upon a notification by the relevant government authorities while in Type I, the Insurance Consortium will initiate the claim settlement process based on the certificate issued by the DTP.

The sum insured will be determined on the basis of the per acre borrowing limits as defined in SBP Report on “Credit Estimation and list of eligible items” and up to the maximum loan amount for eligible crop production.

The CLIS+ also offers additional benefits to the borrower, whose crop was in the calamity certified/declared/notified area. The affected farmer will be paid a one-time loss of income payment of Rs. 15,000 for male and Rs. 17,500 for female farmers. Personal Accident (PA) and bodily injury coverage of up to Rs. 250,000 for male and Rs. 275,000 for female farmers is also applicable under the scheme and these payments will be made directly to the borrower’s accounts through bank transfers or digital wallets.