TACLOBAN CITY-Farmers in Eastern Visayas must have realized the importance of crop insurance after the devastation caused by supertyphoon “Yolanda” as more farmers are availing of government crop insurance. Data gathered from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation(PCIC) regional office shows a huge increase in the number of farmers who have filed for indemnity for loss of crops before Yolanda and immediately after compared to last and current year. Records of PCIC-8 office shows 12,981 claims for loss have already been filed for the first semester of the current year. This is already higher than the 12,915 claims filed for the entire 2015. In 2013, only 4,234 farmers claimed for loss of crops and 4,797 in 2014. Indemnity paid to farmers has also shown a steady increase for the last three years- P18.89 million in 2013, P52.37 million in 2014, P55.19 million in 2015. And for the first semester of the year, its P64.93 million. Rice remains the top product among the seven insurance lines which also include corn, high-value commercial crops, livestock, fishery, non-crop agricultural asset and term insurance packages. Figures for this year show that of the 12,981 claims that were filed, 12,362 were for rice, 422 for high value crops, 141 for corn, 49 for livestock, and four term insurance packages. No claims were made for non-crop and fisheries. “Crop insurance is very important in building back and improving the productivity of our farmers,” says Dominico Digamon, PCIC regional manager.
“Farmers will be more motivated to plant if they know that they will at least recoup their investment in times of calamities. It boosts farmers’ resilience from climate change,” he added.
