Farmers urged to get property insurance

CEBU, Philippines - Farmers qualified under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the national government are encouraged to maximize the crop and livestock insurance to equip them with calamity mitigating measures.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, the main implementing agency of the 4Ps, recently signed a Memo-randum of Agreement with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.

With this, beneficiaries would pay a premium over a given period of time to cover or protect them from possible loss of income and unemployment as a result of illness, injury, disability, retrenchment, harvest failure, maternity, and old age. This component includes micro and area-based schemes to address vulnerability at the community level (such as micro-insurance and social support funds).

 â€œWith this partnership our farmer beneficiaries of Pantawid through the Self-Employment Assistance –Kaunlaran Association (SKA) under the Sustainable Livelihood Program can now avail of affordable insurance that will protect their crops and livestock’s from calamities, plant diseases and pest infestation,” said DSWD-7 Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat.It is noted that those in the agricultural sector have always been among the vulnerable victims of disasters where farmers and their families suffer the most. Seeing this challenge, DSWD-7 has called on its Pantawid farmers to avail of the insurance packages offered by PCIC.

 PCIC, with its principal mandate to provide insurance protection to the country’s agricultural producers particularly the subsistence farmers under the MOA, shall conduct insurance trainings and orient SKA on its policies and coverages.

 Insurance programs offered by PCIC include Rice Crop Insurance, Corn Crop Insurance, High-Value Commercial Crop Insurance, Non-Crop Agricultural Asset Insurance, Livestock Insurance, Term Insurance among others.

DSWD, being the lead agency in social protection, has been serious in promoting programs that seek to mitigate income risks by pooling resources and spreading risks across time and classes.

 About 8,000 Pantawid farmers are targeted to benefit from the PCIC Crop Insurance Packages in the region where majority are coming from the provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental.  (FREEMAN)