Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Craft Viable Insurance Schemes
For Farmers

Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero called on the DA to step up its efforts in encouraging farmers to insure their crops against losses brought about by natural calamities.
　

Several typhoons destroyed large swaths of agricultural lands in the country. Hence, the need to insure more farmlands and products in areas battered by severe tropical storms.
　

Escudero put to task the DA to encourage more farmers to insure their lands and farm products with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), a government-owned and -controlled corporation tasked to provide insurance protection against loss of crops, livestock and agricultural assets due to natural calamities.

This is the reason why the DA should craft viable insurance schemes for all farmers hit by typhoons like Eastern Visayas, the Bicol region and some areas in Southern Luzon.

It was an Aklanon, the Entrepreneurial Farmer, who wrote the First Crop Insurance proposal in 1980 and submitted it to the late Arturo R. Tanco, Minister of Agriculture.

Tanco loved the proposal. He sent it to the College of Agriculture, UP at Los Baños for further study, improvement, and recommendation.

A committee was created until finally it was approved in a presidential decree the late President Ferdinand Marcos signed.

The PCIC was organized to implement the program. But our policy makers are too stingy and so jealous. They probably did not agree to allow farmers to recover from losses brought about by calamities.

Yes, there is crop insurance, but only covered palay and farmers who had crop loans. Moreover, in case disaster occurs to the insured crop, the insurance benefits are forcibly used to pay the bank loans of the farmers.

Those self financed farmers must apply for crop insurance and pay the premium.
Sometime in 1994, there was a bill filed in the House of Representatives to abolish the crop insurance in the Philippines.

According to former Cong. Abeleda of Occidental Mindoro, crop insurance is proposed for abolition because Land Bank has not been paying the PCIC the insurance premium.

I hope P-Noy’s government will revitalized crop insurance to cover several crops including livestock and fish. He must also return the supervised credit program and intensify the agricultural extension services.

Farm families today are being left alone. However, they urgently need agricultural management information, farm capital and marketing assistance.

Better still, if the agric’l. state colleges in each province will perform agricultural extension services. DA only exists in their Regional offices. Most LGUs give negative political and technical interference to farm families and fisherfolk’s progress. /MP