Alcala urges farmers, fisherfolk to insure their lands, crops

MANILA, Philippines – Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is urging farmers and fisherfolk to insure their lands and crops to avoid losses caused by pests, diseases and natural calamities.

“Typhoons, drought, plant diseases and pest infestation can always place the farmers’ investments in jeopardy,” he said yesterday.

Food producers must take advantage of the government’s crop insurance program to adapt to natural calamities that routinely visit the country.

“The DA has, in fact, intensified the implementation of its crop insurance system through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), making it a necessary component of its banner commodity programs for rice, corn, high value crops, livestock and fisheries,” said Alcala.

From 2010 to 2013, the DA, through the PCIC, has increased its coverage by nearly 400 percent, insuring 743,589 farmers and fisherfolk compared to 150,976 beneficiaries in 2010.

During the same period, the DA-PCIC insured 506,027 hectares of farmlands dedicated to rice, corn and other high value crops, 221 percent more than 157,444 hectares of land insured in in 2010.

To encourage more enrollees, DA-PCIC has lowered the required premium and has fast-tracked the processing and payment of crop insurance claims to enable affected farmers and fishers to re-plant or re-stock.

PCIC president Jovy Bernabe said claims could now be paid within 20 days, on the average, upon submission of complete documentary requirements. The law mandates that claims should be settled within 60 days.

This year, PCIC is expanding insurance coverage further to cover one million farmers nationwide, including those in six provinces directly hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Access is also continuously enhanced through initiatives such as Sikat Saka, a credit assistance program of the DA and Land Bank of the Philippines in which crop insurance is an automatic value added service along with assured market for produce, financial mentoring and irrigation services.

In Isabela and Panay Island in western Visayas, PCIC has also been pilot-testing a weather index-based insurance system that uses measurable factors such as rainfall volume to determine the value of risk insurance.