Pyuthan The government has implemented an agricultural insurance program to reduce the loss of agricultural and animal husbandry farmers. The government also bears 80 percent of the premium paid by the farmers. However, due to the complicated process of claiming the insurance amount, the farmers of Pyuthan have not been attracted towards agricultural insurance.
Dimraj Pokhrel, a beekeeper farmer of Pyuthan municipality 8 Tikuri, took out bee insurance last year. Along with Bima, he took the bees to Kapilbastu for grazing. At the same time, after the bee died, he informed the company for an insurance claim.
However, he had to suffer a lot to get the amount due to the insurance. He did not take insurance this year as he had a lot of trouble to get the insurance amount from the company. He complained that even though he took insurance to reduce the damage, he stopped taking insurance due to the company’s distress.
There is a system where up to 80 percent of the insurance is borne by the government and the remaining 20 percent by the farmer. Farmers complain that the insurance company is not interested even though the farmers have asked the insurance company to provide insurance for the agricultural insurance.
Although the number of farmers who have agricultural insurance in the district is large, farmers say that there is no insurance company in Pyuthan and the representatives of the company are not interested in providing insurance. Even though the government pays 80 percent of the amount of agricultural and livestock insurance, farmers are bound to incur losses because they do not know about insurance.
Farmers complain that the local level and agencies related to agriculture have not informed farmers about insurance.
In case of damage to the farmer within the time limit of the insurance contract, the insurance company will compensate up to a maximum of 90 percent. To attract farmers for agricultural insurance, the government will bear up to 80 percent of the insurance cost, but due to the complicated payment process for insurance claims, farmers have not been able to be attracted to the insurance program.
Farmers insurance amount