The Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) has advised livestock farmers to take insurance coverage from the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) to regain their losses in the event of outbreak of diseases.
NAIC is a Federal Government insurance company, set up specifically to provide agricultural risks insurance cover for Nigerian farmers.
Dr Olutoyin Adetuberu, National President and Ifeanyi Ogbu, Chairman, FCT Chapter of the association made the call in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja.
Responding to a question on whether there is compensation to farmers whose animals were laden with diseases, Ogbu said there was no compensation at the moment.
He said the best was for farmers to explore the services of NAIC provided by the government and insure their farms.
“We recall that during the era of Avian Influenza, there used to be compensation to animal farms that were affected based on WHO recommendation that such farms should be burnt and closed.
“Over time, some people who do not have farm at all will be claiming that their animals have been affected, hence compensation was stopped and anybody that has farm are encouraged to take agric insurance from NAIC.
“Farmers can now insure whatever they have so that if there is any case of loss as it were, they can be insured and their farms restored,” he said.
Adetuberu described the insurance outlet as the only way farmers’ earnings could be guaranteed since there was no compensation in place.
She, however, appealed to the Federal Government to consider compensation to farmers whose animals were certified unfit for consumption in abattoirs.
According to her, government can look into the plight of poor farmers and then come up with a compensation scheme.
The president identified one of the implications of nonpayment of compensation to farmers in the case of outbreak of diseases as denial of access to veterinarians to inspect affected farms by the owners.
She said: “The farmers will rush to sell the moribund or dead animals to the populace which is very dangerous to the populace and the nation in general, because unwholesome meat may pass through the populace for consumption,”.
Also, a herder, Abdullahi Mohammed who described the process of insurance and disease reporting as cumbersome, said he would rather prefer selling any of his animal laden with disease than exploring the services of NAIC.
According to him, government should compensate any farmer whose farms are affected by either Anthrax or any other diseases which is the surest way to curb the spread of diseases.
He said with compensation in place, farmers would willingly report cases of disease outbreak in their various farms.
