Death during transport would be included in compulsory swine death insurance from Nov. 1 to ensure the safety of domestically produced pork, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, adding that premiums and benefits would not change.
Compulsory swine death insurance regulations came into force on May 1, 2021, requiring all registered livestock farm operators and unregistered pig farmers to get insurance for at least 80 percent of their pigs, the Taiwan Agricultural Insurance Fund said.
It is the first policy-driven compulsory agriculture insurance scheme in Taiwan, with its coverage rate reaching 100 percent by the end of last year, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times
Data from the fund showed that about 12.6 million pigs nationwide had death insurance last year, but only 832,974 pigs, or about 6.6 percent, had insurance for death during transport over the same period.
The current swine transportation insurance premium per pig ranges from NT$9 to NT$43, depending on the insurance level and transport distance, with 50 percent of the premium subsidized by the ministry and the other half paid by pig farmers, the fund said.
Given that most swine transportation insurance policy holders are local farmers’ associations, many pigs that are not transported via the farmers’ association system have yet to be insured against death during transport, it said.
The ministry yesterday said the optional transportation insurance would be incorporated into the compulsory swine death insurance policy from Nov. 1 to enhance the swine insurance scheme.
The transportation insurance would cover the risk of accidental death during the transport of pigs from farms to meat markets or to slaughterhouses, it said.
That means the insurance coverage would be effective if a pig dies before the ownership of the pig is transferred, the ministry said.
The new measure is expected to lessen pig farmers’ operational risk and prevent the illegal use of dead pigs, as well as ensure the safety of domestically produced pork, it said.
Pig farmers are encouraged to apply for the new insurance policy from local farmers’ associations from next month, without having to bear extra insurance premiums, the ministry said.
The premium subsidies and claim-free benefits offered by the government would also remain the same, it added.
Specifically, the premium would be fully subsidized for farms with 500 pigs or fewer, while a 50 to 80 percent subsidy would be given to those with more than 500 pigs, the ministry said.
The death benefit would be NT$750 per pig for pigs weighing from 40kg to 50kg and NT$1,800 per pig for those weighing more than 50kg, it added.
Data from the fund showed that the compulsory swine insurance premium is NT$32.4 per pig and the out-of-pocket cost by pig farmers ranges from NT$0 to NT$16.2, given the subsidies.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
RSS