PROVINCIAL Agriculturist Japhet Masculino emphasized on Monday, March 11, that the coverage of the crop insurance is free for the farmers.
Masculino made the statement amid the weak El Niño phenomenon that is now affecting the country including the province.
He said that during calamities, crop insurance is very vital for the farmers so they could claim for the damages that may be incurred in preparation for the next cropping.
“The farmers should go to the local agriculturist in their respective localities or at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) to enroll their farms,” Masculino said.
He, however, emphasized that the farmers should enroll their respective farms for crop insurance before planting.
“Several farmers have already enrolled their farms but there are still several others who failed to enroll,” Masculino said.
He also revealed that aside from the crop insurance, farmers should also enroll themselves to have life insurance coverage.
Farmers who are under 70 years old are covered by the life insurance, the agriculturist said.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has revived the insurance program for agrarian reform beneficiaries.
PCIC allocated P1 billion from its budget for the insurance coverage where farmers can be protected in times of natural calamities such as typhoon, flood, drought, tornado, earthquake and volcanic eruption, as well as crop diseases and pest infestation.
DAR Secretary John Castriciones and PCIC president Jovy Bernabd signed a memorandum of agreement for the insurance program dubbed Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries-Agricultural Insurance Program.
This also covers the “lives and limbs” of insured farmers and their family members.
But only those farmers listed under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture can avail themselves of the insurance program.
This was successfully implemented in 2013 as DAR shouldered the P1 billion farmers' insurance premium.
There were 350,819 farmers served and indemnified by the program amounting to P18.567 billion. (TDE)