A TOTAL of 511 rice farmers in Negros Occidental have filed notices of loss at the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) to avail indemnity claims through the Negros First Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP).
Jose Ma. Torres, head of PCIC Extension Office in Negros Occidental, said these notices of loss were filed as of Thursday, July 25.
Torres said it covers about 1,300-hectare farms in 21 local government units (LGUs) in the province damaged by the recent onslaught of Tropical Storm Falcon.
"The notices of loss are still up for adjustment to determine the exact extent of damage to the farms," he said, adding that the process normally lasts for 30 to 40 days.
The filing of the notices of loss is one requirement under the NFUCIP, an initiative of the provincial government in partnership with the PCIC.
Implemented starting 2011, the program is providing enrolled farmers of P17,000 claim per hectare of damaged farms.
Based on the modified guidelines of the program, the enrollment premium per cropping season is shouldered by the provincial government as a loan.
For crop alone, the enrollment premium is P840 per farmer.
In the previous coverage, only P500 is being shouldered by the province while the remaining P340 is the counterpart of the farmer-enrollees.
If including the life insurance, the province pays P1,175 in enrollment premium per farmer to the PCIC.
Under NFUCIP, enrollees should apply for insurance before planting and farms covered by the program are those planted for not less than 25 days.
"From January to June this year, PCIC-Negros Occidental has paid an average of P5,500 to P6,000 per hectare of farms covered by the insurance program," Torres said.
As adjustment, or validation of the reported damaged farms continues, the agency expects more farmers to file notices of loss, he added.
The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) earlier reported an initial P17.7 million worth of rice production losses brought by the typhoon.
The amount covers 1,584 affected-farmers with 2,529.31-hectare farms.
The figure, however, only accounts for those in 59 barangays of six localities in the southern part of the province.
2. TAGS: Agriculture