Agric consultant urges farmers to take livestock insurance
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday October 11, 2022 06:00
He was previously a coordinator at Agricultural Hub where he led a crusade to encourage farmers to take livestock insurance.
The commercial insurance sector in Botswana has different livestock insurance offerings at commercial rates. Small-scale farmers have often been reluctant to insure their animals citing higher premiums amongst others.
That is why Fitt believes that the government should chip in and support them.
The recent FMD outbreak at some villages in the North East will result in some cattle being culled but farmers decry that the compensation offered by government is not adequate.
Fitt pointed out that insurance will ensure that farmers receive claims that tally with the number of resources that they have invested in their animals during instances such as FMD or drought.
He explained that agricultural insurance has a great potential to help and support the country’s agricultural sector and at the same time it could take a big burden off from government and put it in the hands of the private sector, again helping to support both the agricultural and insurance sectors of the country. “The government could look to partnering with the commercial insurance sector to help broaden the support for livestock owners in Botswana if they believed it to be beneficial for the country.
This could have the benefit of better supporting the sector by, when appropriate, paying out market-related rates as opposed to fixed rates on any claims. This could also take some of the burdens away from government to the private sector, which has the advantage of possibly expanding the private sector area of operation in Botswana,” said the agricultural consultant. According to Fitt the partnership between government and private insurance companies could take many different forms.
These may range from fully to limited support from government for all livestock, to a sector of the livestock owners and for different types of claims such as FMD or drought amongst others.
He emphasised that the idea of governments partnering with private insurance companies is not new and is being implemented in many countries in Africa and around the world. “Another area is crop insurance, which again is a very large area, with some aspects already being covered, mainly in the commercial farming sector, by the insurance industry in Botswana.
When I was involved with Agricultural Hub, several years ago, most farmers or livestock owners that did take out insurance for their livestock did so mainly for high-value stock, bulls, and high-valve breeding female animals, as they did not think the rates were viable for the more commercial animals in their herds.”