BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental provincial government released P4.92 million to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) as additional allocation for farmers’ premiums last week.
Provincial agriculturist Japhet Masculino recently said the Provincial Board approved the additional fund in July in the wake of natural calamities affecting the province’s agriculture sector.
The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist is implementing the Negros First Universal Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP) in partnership with the PCIC.
Under the NFUCIP, farmers may avail of the P17,000 claim per hectare of damaged farms.
The P840 enrollment premium per cropping season will be shouldered by the provincial government as a loan.
Masculino said calamities can happen anytime, and it’s better for farmers to be enrolled for them to receive indemnity claims.
Following drought from January to June this year, the PCIC distributed at least P64 million in claims to about 13,000 farmers in Negros Occidental.
In the first half of the year, the province’s agriculture sector, excluding sugarcane, incurred production losses of about P174 million due to El Niño.
After Tropical Storm Falcon, rice farmers reported losses amounting to P17.7 million. A total of 1,584 farmers were affected, with 2,529 hectares of farms in 59 barangays of six localities in southern Negros.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Oct. 10 turned over the check to PCIC regional manager Eva Laud during their meeting at the Provincial Capitol with PCIC-Negros Occidental head Jose Ma. Torres and Masculino.(With a report from PNA/PN)
