If the livestock insurance scheme comes into effect, it will cover 60 per cent of the loss of livestock lost to wild animals. However, farmers will have to pay a certain annual premium and insure their cattle. According to the Department of Forests and Park Services (DoFPS), the draft scheme is with the cabinet for finalisation.
For now, there is no compensation scheme for farmers who lose their domestic animals, especially cattle, to wild animals. However, yesterday, celebrating the World Tigers Day in Trongsa, the forestry department provided semso to some 138 households that lost cattle to tigers this year. The affected farmers were paid Nu 2000 each for the ordinary breed and Nu 5000 for a jersey.
In Trongsa alone, tigers killed 177 cattle in the last seven months.
According to Lobzang Dorji, the director of the DoFPS under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, a long term-term holistic and innovative solution to the human-wildlife conflict is critical to ensure the safety of the communities and their assets, as well as, wildlife and the habitats. He said the earlier endowment fund to pay compensation was not sustainable. “Currently, we are under discussion to provide such a sustainable compensation scheme to the affected households. And very soon a compensation scheme will be made available for their welfare, he said.”
Gyembo Dorji, the Tangsibji Gup, says the proposed premium “of Nu 250 for jersey breed, Nu 200 for oxen breed and Nu 150 for the local breed” will cover the livestock with “Nu 15,000, 10,000 and 7,000 respectively.”
Against the increasing menace of human-tiger conflict in Trongsa, locals welcomed the idea of insuring their cattle. They said their yearly losses due to the loss of livestock to wildlife will be cut down by the scheme.
“Since some landowners have land far away from their homes and have past experiences of a tiger attacking and killing their cattle in such land, they were also willing to come forward to insure their cattle now,” said the Tangsibji Gup.
He also added, from his gewog alone, close to 60 households have already come forward to register for the insurance scheme although its premium is yet to be finalised.
Passang, Trongsa
