ILOILO – Over 13,000 farmers affected by the dry spell here are covered by crop insurance, according to the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO), if they have been insured with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC). An attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, PCIC’s principal mandate is to provide insurance protection to farmers against losses arising from natural calamities, plant diseases and pest infestations.
Since 2018 the PAO had been encouraging farmers to have themselves insured with PCIC, said Elias Sandig, assistant provincial agriculturist.
PCIC also provides protection against damage to / loss of non-crop agricultural assets including but not limited to machineries, transport facilities and other related infrastructures due to peril/s insured against.
From December 2018 to February 2019 PAO already recorded P401,040,848.63 in agricultural losses in 26 municipalities and one component city covering 13,630 farmers working in 11,092 hectares of farmland.
The 27 dry spell-affected areas were in the following districts:
* 1st District – Oton, Guimbal, Igbaras, Tigbauan, Tubungan
* 2nd District – Leon, Alimodian
* 3rd District – Badiangan, Janiuay, Pototan, Cabatuan, Mina
* 4th District – Anilao, Banate, Barotac Nuevo, Passi City, San Enrique, Dumangas, Dingle, Dueñas
* 5th District – San Rafael, Batad, Balasan, Barotac Viejo, Ajuy, Concepcion, Lemery
According to Sandig, partial reports PAO received showed southern Iloilo or the 1st District as most vulnerable to the dry spell for having the shortest period of rainfall – from four to six months.
The next most vulnerable was the 2nd District which had a rainfall period of six to eight months, he added.
To counter the dry spell’s adverse effects, Sandig said PAO had been encouraging farmers to use high-yielding rice varieties.
They have been advised to also plant crops that need less watering at this time, he added.
The Philippines is vulnerable to natural disasters which cause devastation to crops and miseries to agricultural producers and lenders of agricultural credit.
Because of the marginality of most landholdings, the result of these losses is devastating to the finances of farmers.
In 1976, an Interagency Committee for the Development of Crop Insurance during the Marcos administration undertook a nine-month full-blown feasibility study on the creation of a crop insurance program.
It was concluded that the agricultural insurance system could address not only the welfare aspect of the after-loss event but also help in achieving the objective of stabilizing farm incomes and reverse the “risk-averse” nature of farmers and push them to invest more in new technologies that would help increase national productivity.
Apart from protecting farmers from financial losses, crop insurance was also considered as an instrument that can be offered as “surrogate” collateral to banks and other financial institutions to influence and encourage them to continue participating and supporting government credit programs.
The study ushered in the creation of PCIC and the operationalization of the insurance program through the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 1467 promulgated on June 11, 1978./PN
