The government reinstated the Endowment Fund for the farming communities to compensate for their crop and livestock losses in late 2019. However, with the pandemic making its mark in the ensuing years, the funding initiative did not see the light of the day so far.
The Agriculture Minister shared this after he was quizzed by the Chhumig-Ura MP during the Question Hour session in the National Assembly yesterday.
MP Karma Wangchuk asked the minister why farmers facing crop and livestock losses have not been compensated despite having the endowment fund.
In a response to the question, the Agriculture Minister said the ministry had to mobilise Nu 1.7bn as a principal amount under the Endowment Fund and pay the farmers from the interest earned by the amount. But with the downturn of the economy due to COVID, things did not materialise.
The endowment fund is money set aside or invested to earn revenue to fund some charitable activities.
“We requested for additional budget from the government and foreign donors to arrange Nu 1.7bn. But it wasn’t possible due to the pandemic. So the existing amount of Nu 91 M is not enough to compensate the farmers,” pointed out the Agriculture Minister, Yeshey Penjor.
According to the minister, the external donors are also not in favour of the Endowment Fund, citing it as not a sustainable funding mechanism.
Instead, they and the international experts have recommended introducing an insurance scheme.
“In line with the recommendation, the government had talked with insurance companies in the country and other foreign donor countries. So during my recent visit to Italy, I proposed USD 4.9 from the Adaptation Fund. The funding board has asked us to submit a project proposal,” updated Lyonpo Yeshey Penjor.
The Endowment Fund was initiated in 2010 by the erstwhile government. However, due to the lengthy procedure to claim the compensation, it became defunct six years later. In replacement of this, the previous government provided an annual lump sum amount of Nu 300,000 to the gewogs.
But this way of funding was also short-lived since some gewogs used the money on other developmental activities.
Therefore, the government has recently implemented a pilot project to compensate for cattle depredation in six gewogs of Trongsa, Bumthang and Zhemgang this summer.
The project’s success will determine if the Agriculture Ministry will replicate it in other districts.
Pema Tshewang
Edited by Pema Lhaden
