Subsidized cattle insurance on cards

KATHMANDU, Dec 28: National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) -- the dairy sector regulator -- has come up with a plan of insuring 500,000 milking cows in seven key dairy districts through local dairy co-operatives.

The NDDB mooted the fresh initiative as dairy farmers have been facing a huge loss due to death of their cattle in the absence of a reliable compensation system.

The board is providing insurance coverage to milking cows of about 300,000 farmers associated with 1,000 dairy co-operatives. As per the plan, the board will provide seed money to District Dairy Co-operatives Associations to provide compensation to farmers.

“We are distributing seed money to compensate farmers for the loss of their cattle though District Dairy Co-operatives Associations of the selected districts. Farmers will benefit from the scheme as they will get compensation by paying reasonable insurance premium,” DN Pathak, executive director of NDDB, told Republica on Monday.

The DDB is endorsing the plan in the near future. About 300,000 farmers are expected to benefit from the program in the first phase.

Pathak said Kavre, Lalitpur, Nawalparasi, Makawanpur, Chitwan, Rupandehi and Kaski districts have been selected for the program in the first phase. About 500,000 of an estimated 900,000 milking cows across the country are believed to be in the farms in these seven districts.

“Poor farmers may have to face a huge loss in the absence of insurance coverage. The main objective of this plan is to provide compensation to farmers in case of death of their cattle through insurance schemes,” Pathak added.

Only a few milking cows and buffaloes have been insured so far.

As of now, the Credit Guarantee Corporation has been undertaking the responsibility of insuring cattle.

The board is mulling over expanding the program to other viable districts based on the basis of results of the program in the first phase.

In a bid to address the shortage of milking cows in the country, the board is also importing 20,000 vials semen of improved breeds for artificial insemination in the seven districts.

“With this arrangement, we hope the number of cows of improved breeds in those districts will increase, reducing deepening deficit of fresh milk in the country,” said Pathak.

Many farmers have been quitting dairy farming in the absence of due incentives and rising cost of milk production in recent years, sparking shortage of fresh milk across the country.

According to dairy producers, they were receiving only half of the total daily demand of about 800,000 liters of fresh milk across the country. As a result, most of the producers, including state-owned Dairy Development Corporation, are forced to import fresh milk from India´s Bihar state.

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