Cattle Insurance provides the Indian rural population with protection against the financial loss incurred due to
death of their cattle. It can be very difficult for the farmers to bear the cost of cattle as it is very high. It can force
them into a debt cycle. With the help of Cattle Insurance, farmers will be able to cover the cost much easily.
There are two types of risks which are insured under this policy:
Death of Cattle: It covers the loss of life of the cattle because of an accident or injury and any disease that occurred
due to surgical infection.
Permanent Disability cover: It covers the risk of permanent and complete disability.
In India the Ultimate death of cattle has a debilitating impact on the
owner’s income, more so if the owner happens to be marginal
farmer or landless labour or a dairy farmer. It is to meet this
exigency that the cattle Insurance schemes have emerged as
security for indemnity in the event of death of the insured animal
and also by providing insurance in the event of permanent total
disability of the cattle. Now the cattle insurance scheme has
emerged as a saviour over the year for landless, small and
marginal farmer and for those whose major occupation is dairying
Presently Cattle insurance has become compulsory under the
Integrated Rural Development Programme. Thus cattle insurance
has become an integral part of the dairy industries to mitigate with
the risk associated with farming.
In India the cattle insurance scheme was initially initiated through the small Farmer’s
Development Agency (SFDA) in 1971. But the scheme did not operate for long-time. Then
the nationalized banks began to finance the purchases of cattle and agreed to collect
premium from beneficiaries. Initially the insurance policy was for one year and the
premium was paid annually, over the years, this has been modified and a long term cattle
insurance policy was introduced in 1983. The Government of India made lot of efforts for
cattle insurance but achievement was poor. An attempt was made to identify the factors
influencing cattle rearers for not doing insurance. Since cattle form an integral part of our
business. Protecting this prime investment is therefore critically important.
