THE Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has paid indemnity claims totaling to almost P46 million to 7,802 enrolled-farmers in Negros Occidental from January to October 15 this year.
PCIC records showed the bulk of the claims amounting to almost P43.4 million was paid to 7,365 rice farmers in the province.
Records added that for corn sector, P1.6 million was paid to 2, 617 farmers; P886,154, 132 livestock raisers; P119,171, 10 high value crop farmers; and P434, 460 in death benefits paid to 53 local farmers.
Jose Ma. Torres, insurance underwriter and officer-in-charge of PCIC-Negros Occidental, told Sun.Star Bacolod that as of October 15, a total of 15,998 rice and corn farmers in the province were already enrolled in various insurance programs of the agency.
Torres said the total amount of indemnity claims released covers those under the Negros First Universal Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP), Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture (RSBSA), Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP), and Sikat Saka Program (SSP), among others.
NFUCIP is being implemented in partnership with the provincial government through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA).
Other programs are through other partner-agencies like RSBSA with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
In 2015, PCIC released a total of P28 million in indemnity claims to farmers and raisers in Negros Occidental.
Thus, the province has already surpassed for the first 10 months the insurance claims released last year.