In his first duty as new Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Noh Omar, wants to provide insurance coverage for chickens as well as paddy fields that are destroyed during calamities, reports The Star of Malaysia.

He said the ministry and Agro Bank have started a pilot project on the insurance scheme for chickens in Johor and paddy fields in Kedah.

"I have seen chicken breeders and rice farmers suffering huge losses when their animals died from bird flu and paddy fields are destroyed by floods.

"I believe the insurance scheme is the best solution to prevent them from incurring further losses," he told reporters after launching the ministry’s Cultivation Month Programme on 12 April.

He said details such as the premium had to be worked out to ensure that it would benefit both the insurers and the farmers.

He said the nation's rice stock would also be increased from two weeks previously to three months to ensure the country would not be badly affected during a global food crisis, according to The Star.