BACOLOD City – Monsoon rains enhanced by tropical storm “Henry” last week damaged rice fields in San Enrique, Negros Occidental.
This prompted the provincial government to call on farmers to avail themselves of crop insurance.
Insurance will help farmers recover from production losses after calamities, Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said.
Torrential rains from July 15 to 17 hit about 84 hectares of rice farms in four barangays in San Enrique, affecting 54 farmers, a report from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) showed.
Cost of damage to crops was estimated at about P526,000 as of Friday.
Almost 43 hectares of the affected rice fields were in seedling stage set for harvest in November.
The remaining 41 hectares were in vegetative and production stages due for harvest in October and September, respectively.
The damage resulted in an average yield loss of 44 percent, or about 125 metric tons, said the report.
Masculino told farmers to report any damage to their crops so they could avail themselves of buffer stocks, including seeds.
He said his office continues to assess and validate possible damage in other localities.
Just this January the OPA recorded some P22 million worth of damage to crops due to heavy rains and floods brought by the northeast monsoon and typhoon “Agaton.”
Capitol has been partnering with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. in implementing the Negros First Universal Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP) since 2011.
In 2017 the PCIC – through NFUCIP – insured 5,487 farmers in Negros Occidental with a total area of about 7,000 hectares.
A total of 3,938 farmers with a combined area of about 4,178 hectares received indemnity claims worth P17.76 million.
Under the modified guidelines, the enrollment premium per cropping season remains at P840 but the whole amount will now be shouldered by the provincial government as a loan.
Previously the province shouldered only P500 while the remaining P340 was the counterpart of the farmer-enrollees. (PNA)
