Bhutan government is thinking about starting crop insurance for farmers

Bhutan government might introduce crop insurance from April next year. The government is still thinking about the insurance and it did not make any announcement but if introduced, it would highly benefit the farmers.

The Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan (RICBL), in collaboration with the Agriculture Ministry, submitted the proposal of crop insurance to the Finance Ministry in September 2008 but the government is still working on the matter.

The two government agencies decided to introduce the proposal after they received requests from many farmers for compensation for crop damages from the government.

Tenzin Chophel, Chief policy and planning division, Agriculture Ministry, said that they are still waiting for the response of finance ministry. This is more like a social service than a profit generating business. He also said that such a scheme would create communal resilience for communities which would protect the farmers.

The crop insurance will be categorized based on marginal, small and big land owners. Land less then an acre will be considered marginal, between one and three acres would be small and more than three acres would be considered big.

Marginal land holders will be given Nu 40,000 in case if they are struck by minor disasters. Small land owners will be given Nu 60,000 and big land holders will be provided Nu 100,000. In case of a major disaster, the government will intervene.