THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Forest and Animal Husbandry K Raju has said the government will make insurance coverage compulsory for cattle and dairy farmers. He was speaking after inaugurating the “Goraksha Plus” insurance scheme, which covers both cattle and dairy farmers. He said several farmers suffered losses during the floods as they did not have insurance coverage. Officials should ensure maximum farmers are included in the project, he said.
He said among the available insurance projects in the state, Goraksha Plus is the most economical and viable. “Cattle will be insured for Rs 50,000 and the farmer Rs 2 lakh. In this scheme, general category farmers will be provided with a subsidy of 50 per cent and SC/ST category 70 per cent,” he said.
An amount of Rs 30,000 will be provided as compensation to the farmers who has lost their cows in the flood. Money from the National Disaster Relief Funds and the state government’s funds, which has already been earmarked, will be used for this. The minister said that during floods, the animal husbandry and dairy department reported losses of Rs 200 crore. Six-thousand cattle were found dead.