Moc Chau dairy company insures cow, milk prices

The Moc Chau Dairy Cow Breeding Joint Stock Company is deploying a programme to insure milk and milk-cows in the northern province of Son La to help local farmers stabilise production.

If local farmers pay an annual insurance fee of 250,000 VND per head of cow, they will be compensated if a cow dies or cannot produce milk. The compensation level can be as much as 10 times the fee.

Also, if the milk price on the domestic market drops 30 percent, farmers, who pay a fee of 50-100 VND per kg of milk sold to the company, can receive compensation of up to 60 percent of the loss triggered by the price drop.

The company’s General Director Tran Cong Chien said that the programme has received a warm response from farmers with nearly 1,000 cows being insured and up to 10 billion VND in premiums paid. Over the past three years, the company paid to insure over 670 cows.

Moc Chau district now boasts over 480 cow-raising households with most of them being small-sized and only about 30 operating on a large-scale, with a monthly income of around 80 million VND per household.

According to agricultural experts, the insurance model is necessary and should be expanded in the coming time.

Agriculture is the sector most adversely impacted by epidemics and natural disasters, however, state policy as well as its legal framework for insurance are not sufficient, and are not encouraging farmers and insurers to participate.

The country now has 1 percent of its total domestic animals and crops insured.

Tags: Vietnam agriculture, Vietnam business news