Insurance cover boost to yaks reared in high-altitude areas

Yaks reared in high-altitude areas in the Himalayan states have got an insurance coverage in case of deaths caused by many factors including due to possible climate change.

The National Insurance Company Limited has recently approved a proposal submitted by National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY), an organisation under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) situated at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh for insurance coverage of the yaks.

Dirang is situated at about 5,000-feet above sea level in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The insurance will be upto 80% of the market price of a yak, which are reared in high-altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir (Leh-Ladakh).

"The insurance policy for yaks has provided a boost to the cause of yak conservation and sustainable yak husbandry. The livelihood of many nomadic communities depends on yak rearing but frequent deaths cause huge economic loss," director the ICAR-NRCY, Mihir Sarkar told DH.

"The economic dividends arising from yak farming are declining and this is further reflected in the dwindling yak population every year. Inclement weather conditions in the wake of climate change, diseases, attack by wild animals are some of the prominent reasons for huge losses incurred by yak farmers. The insurance will shield them against a number of risks posed by weather calamities, diseases, in-transit mishaps, surgical operation, strike or riots and permanent total disability for breeding or stud yaks," he said.

Sarkar said over 10,000 households earn their livelihood requirements from yak rearing. Yak rearers earn by selling milk and milk products, meat, woolen clothes, beside others.

The proposal about an insurance coverage was taken up after 500 yaks died in high-altitude areas in Sikkim in 2019. "Similar deaths are reported frequently in Kargil. The global climate change may have a bearing on this," Sarkar said.