Goat farming is one of the major income source for small holder farmers. It can be done in small scale, without huge investments. In many parts of Nepal goat are referred as “poor people’s cow”. But there are a set of challenges that goat farmers of rural areas have to face. Different kinds of diseases and untimely deaths of the goats causes burden to the farmers.
The local small-holder farmers in the Bajhang District of farwestern Nepal have been rearing goats from generations but lack of commercialisation and other risks were an enormous challenge to them. They had to bear huge loss when diseases attacked the goats and a number of goats died at a time. But in the recent times, they are very excited about their goat-farming enterprise. This change happened after the introduction of Goat Insurance scheme by the POSAN-Food Security project.
Under the goat insurance scheme, 400 goats in the district have been insured so far. The scheme was initiated by POSAN-Food Security project in partnership with a government owned District of Livestock Office (DLSO), Bajhang and a local Cooperative. There are certain rules and regulations that farmers have to follow to get their goats insured, like – the goats should have received all required vaccines and health certificate from DLSO to be eligible for insurance. If the insured goat dies then the farmer receives 90 per cent of the valuated price of the goat. This is a huge relief to the small-holder farmers who have to contribute to only a small amount initially for the insurance.
One of the local farmers, Ramgiri Dhami has already insured 24 of his goats. “I am very hopeful that the goat insurance will minimize the risks involved in goat rearing and make it profitable for farmers like us. This kind of scheme is entirely a new concept and I am very excited about it!” says Dhami.
This is indeed a new concept for the whole district thus, the farmers were unknown and a bit skeptic about it initially. But more and more farmers are getting their goats insured after learning about its benefits. The farmers like Ramgiri want the service to be expanded further so more farmers like him can benefit from it. These kind of new schemes can be very beneficial for poor farmers who are doing farming on a small scale and it would be great if such initiatives could be introduced to other parts of the country as well.
Ramgiri Dhami with his insured goats (Picture: Puspa Raj Poudel/Practical Action)
Insured Goats (Picture: Puspa Raj Poudel/Practical Action)