MYAGDI, NOVEMBER 8

Free agriculture insurance programme has been launched in 11 districts including Myagdi of Gandaki Province. The federal government will be providing 75 per cent grant on the premium of agriculture insurance while the provincial Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives will bear remaining 25 per cent.

“The provincial government has launched free agriculture from this year. It will help attract farmers towards agriculture insurance and save them from agricultural losses,” said Narayan Kusum, chief of the Veterinary Hospital and Livestock Expert Centre, Myagdi. To avail the grant, the agriculture and livestock expert centre has asked farmers who have paid insurance money from July 16 onward to file an application along with the receipts and other necessary documents.

The deadline to apply for the grant is June 29 next year.

The service is based on firstcome-first-serve modality.

Meanwhile, the Beni-based Veterinary Hospital and Livestock Expert Centre has received Rs 4.5 million and Agriculture Knowledge Centre has received Rs 400,000 to provide the grant to the beneficiaries.

The expert centre and knowledge centre cover Myagdi and Mustang districts in this regard.

Likewise, the government has brought a programme to provide grants to farmers cultivating barren land. Grants worth Rs 3,000 will be provided per ropani to people cultivating land that has been barren for at least three years, said Gobinda Pandey of the knowledge centre. “A sum of Rs 2.4 million has been released for this programme. We have also issued a notice for farmers to apply for it,” he mentioned.

Moreover, farmers who grow vegetables in two seasons a year in plastic houses covering at least two ropanis of land or an area of 200 square metres will get grants worth Rs 3,000 per ropani, Pandey said, adding that Rs 1.5 million has been released for the purpose.

Also, Rs 5.1 million has been released for farmers who sell milk through cooperatives as per the centre’s procedure and guidelines.