CEBU, Philippines – Insurance claims paid out by state-run Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) to insured farmers in Central Visayas affected by calamities reached P54.7 million as of end-November this year.
Citing official data, PCIC Regional Manager Crescencio Deligero Jr. said the agency distributed indemnity checks to a total of 7,282 farmers in Region 7. Indemnity is the compensation for damages or losses.
As of November, Deligero said the agency has insured a total of 207,806 farmers, already exceeding its target to insure 153,000 this year.
The claims paid out by PCIC include all its insurance lines: rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock, non-crop agricultural assets and term insurance package.
Bulk of the claims were paid for rice and corn at P24.6 million and P21.5, respectively.
Deligero said most of the reported losses were due to the typhoons that previously hit the region and the effects of the ongoing El Niño phenomenon.
In an interview, Deligero also announced that PCIC's free insurance coverage for farmers affected by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013 is only until this year, as decided by its board.
The state-run agricultural insurer has allocated P60 million this year for 47,278 farmers in northern Cebu which was heavily hit by Yolanda.
As of last month, claims by 1,908 farmers who were covered by the free insurance reached P13.7 million.
The insurer also offers farmers free coverage in its Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture and the Agri-Fishery Insurance Program of the Cebu provincial government. — Carlo S. Lorenciana (FREEMAN)