Duck farmers across the state are upbeat as their long-pending demand to launch a duck insurance scheme will be addressed soon.
Delayed for the past several years because of the reluctance of the insurance companies, the first phase of the scheme is set to be launched in various localities falling under the Kuttanad region by June 2014.
Pradeep Kumar, director of poultry, State Animal Husbandry Department, says the scheme is being initiated to popularise and promote duck farming in the state.
“The scheme covering duck insurance is certainly going to be a solace for duck farmers across the state as some of them are left helpless during disease outbreaks,” says Pradeep Kumar.
The farmers and the officials concerned are glad as the demand is going to be fulfilled.
“Even after an array of discussions, the department and the insurance companies had failed to reach a consensus,” says Pradeep Kumar.
“The authorities of the United India Insurance Company have now expressed their interest in implementing the scheme. The talks on the terms are on and the scheme can be materialised in Kuttanad at the earliest,” he says.
“The state government has allotted an amount of `7 lakh to address the woes of the duck farmers in Kuttanad as part of the proposed Kuttanad package. The scheme will be extended to Palakkad and Thrissur districts also, where the farming is predominant, after it is proved productive,” says Pradeep Kumar.
Raising his apprehension over the smooth implementation of the ambitious scheme, a senior official of the Animal Disease Control Project says that the insurance companies are likely to counteract with the
scheme in Thrissur and Palakkad.
“Most of the ducks, farmed in the two districts, are migratory. It is hard for the insurance companies to trace these ducks. Besides, the ducks are left without identification marks, while goats and cows are marked with numbers,” he says.