Overview of Livestock Insurance in Nepal

Summary & recommendations: 

Despite livestock insurance being quite successful, there are some shortcomings. Livestock enterprise is most vulnerable to risks such as disease, lack of veterinary services, and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides. So, livestock insurance is an effective risk-bearing mechanism. However, due to the lack of price-fixing mechanisms for dairy cattle, buffaloes and other livestock by the government, the insured farmers are not satisfied with the valuation and loss assessment. The reason is the sum insured of particular livestock species such as dairy cattle, buffaloes and goats is determined by the mutual understanding of the insurance company, farmers and service provider(technician).

Poultry Insurance

Cattle Insurance

Goat Insurance

The challenge the livestock insurance in Nepal could be addressed by raising awareness among the farmers about the benefits of insurance and relevant procedures during insurance is very crucial to increasing insurance adoption. Public awareness campaigns should be intensified through the combined efforts of all the stakeholders including local government authorities, media, insurance companies, and farmers or cooperatives. Accessibility of the insurance services even in the rural areas should be enhanced by increasing the number of insurance or extension agents. Furthermore, the insurance agents should be provided with the appropriate training and insurance procedure guidelines in the local language so that they can approach and convince farmers to insure their livestock. In addition to it, the livestock insurance adoption in rural areas would further be enhanced by executing the standard guidelines for the determination of the sum insured number of dairy animals by the Nepal government. This step would certainly benefit the smallholder farmers by ensuring their livestock can get the real valuation of what they have invested during animal purchase. The effectiveness of the insurance program can also be increased by simplifying the procedure of issuing the insurance policy and claim reimbursement process. 

You can access this article on Academia Letters at https://doi.org/10.20935/AL5977 

Corresponding Author: Dr. Swotantra Dangi, cswotantra@gmail.com 

Citation: Dangi, D. (2022). Overview of Livestock Insurance in Nepal. Academia Letters, Article 5977. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL5977