The Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) under the Department of Agriculture (DA)registered two milestones last year when it shelled out more than P1 billion in insurance claims and covered more than one million farmers. In a report submitted to Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, PCIC President Jovy C. Bernabe said the agency has “surpassed the one million mark in the number of farmers enrolled by PCIC as well as the one billion mark in the amount of damage claims (we have) paid in a year.” The report said the DA-PCIC has insured a total of 1.117 million farmers in its various insurance lines during the year. This is a 21.71 percent increase compared to the 917,814 farmers enrolled in 2014. Nearly half of them, or 545,425, were palay and corn farmers enrolled in the DA-PCIC’s core rice and corn insurance programs. In terms of damage compensation,  DA-PCIC said it shelled out around P1.1 billion,  48.96 percent higher than the P738.453 million paid to farmers in 2014. According to report, standing crops of the insured farmers were largely affected by the various weather disturbances that visited the country last year, particularly typhoons Lando and Nona which ravaged farmlands in Luzon last October and December, respectively. It added that the insured areas operated by farmers participating in the PCIC programs were spread out over 849,586 hectares, a size 7.24 percent greater than the 792,208 hectares in 2014. Source - mb.com.ph