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Myanmar will launch its first livestock insurance program in over 30 years, with the help of Singapore-based InfoCorp Technologies.
Aside from InfoCorp, state-owned Myanma Insurance, the Department of Livestock Breeding and Veterinary under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI), and domestic firm RGK+Z&A Group will spearhead the project.
“We estimate livestock insurance will be launched by year-end,” Daw Sandar Oo, managing director of Myanma Insurance, told the Myanmar Times.
The insurance programme will use InfoCorp Technologies’ tamper-proof livestock identification tagging technology, which involves inserting a digital chip into each animal, according to U Zeya Mon, CEO of RGK+Z&A Group.
Each head of cattle will have a registration fee of around US$2, plus a premium of around 1% of the animal’s value.
In 1983, Myanma Insurance launched a livestock insurance policy, but it was shut down because it did not have the technology to track the animals and determine those which are insured from the uninsured.
According to government data, there are around 11.5 million heads of livestock in Myanmar.
“We are interested in this plan as it will help us get access to loans,” said U Cho Min Aung, vice chairperson of a livestock breeders’ association in the Magway region.
By having insured livestock, farmers will find it easier to obtain loans from the Myanma Agriculture Development Bank and expand their businesses, as they can use their animals as collateral.
