THE Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has insured a total of 33,092 farmers and fisherfolk in Negros Occidental from January to July 15 this year through its various crop insurance programs.
PCIC-Negros Occidental reported that the number of insured farmers covers an area of almost 26,475 hectares.
Of the figure, most are in the rice sector with 11,705 farmers covering an area of 12,165.83 hectares.
For corn, the agency has enrolled 614 farmers with an area of 534.43 hectares.
There are 4,713 insured coconut and sugarcane farmers covering 4,490.13 hectares.
For livestock, 2,801 farmers with 8,564 hectares; non-crop insurance, 709 recipients with 709 hectares; seaweeds, seven fisherfolk covering seven hectares; and accident insurance, 12,542 farmers also with a total area of seven hectares.
As to the type of crop insurance program, the PCIC has insured 14,764 farmers with an area of 18,984.85 hectares through the Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture (RSBSA).
The coverage premium, or the amount spent by the government, reached about P30 million.
For Sikat Saka, 180 farmers were insured. They cover 255.03 hectares with premium amounting to P899,000.
For Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP), 245 farmers were insured covering an area of 358.58 hectares at a premium of almost P1.5 million.
Meanwhile, 17,903 farmers were insured under the regular program. The recipients cover an area of 6,875.93 hectares with a premium of almost P6.2 million.
Jose Ma. Torres, insurance underwriter and officer-in-charge of PCIC-Negros Occidental, said that the premium subsidy for Negros Occidental under RSBSA alone is P74 million.
"It will cover a total of 37,000 hectares," Torres said, adding that "at an average of one hectare per farmer, the amount can cater to 37,000 farmers." (EPN)