With the recent surge in the number of farmers affected by calamities like typhoon, the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental, through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), has allotted P5 million as additional fund for its Negros First Universal Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP). Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said the additional insurance fund was already approved by the provincial board during its regular session earlier this week. It will cover the farmers’ enrolment premium of P840 each, for their crops alone. The enrolment premium can reach up to P1,175 if including life insurance. Masculino said calamities can happen anytime thus, it is better if farmers are enrolled so they can receive indemnity claims. “For the recent drought, from January to June this year, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) distributed at least P64 million for about 13,000 farmers in Negros Occidental,” he said, adding that “we only have minimal fund left for our crop insurance program.” Implemented starting 2011, the NFUCIP is an initiative of the provincial government in partnership with the PCIC. Under which farmers may avail themselves of the 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. In the previous coverage, only P500 is being shouldered by the province while the remaining P340 is the counterpart of the farmer-enrollees. Enrollees should apply for insurance before planting and farms covered by the program are those planted for not less than 25 days. Masculino recalled that agriculture sector of the province, excluding sugarcane, has incurred damage losses worth about P174 million due to El Niño phenomenon during the first half of the year. This is on top of about P17.7 million in rice production losses brought by the recent onslaught of Tropical Storm Falcon. The amount covers 1,584 affected-farmers with 2,529.31-hectare farms in 59 barangays of six localities in the southern part of the province. Masculino said that under NFUCIP, the province was able to cover some 60,000 enrolled-farmers last year. If based on the two cropping seasons, the number would reach up to 100,000 farmers. “We continue to urge farmers to insure their crops to lessen possible adverse effects of calamities,” he said, urging enrolled-farmers affected of calamities to immediately file notices of loss so they can avail indemnity claims. Source - https://www.sunstar.com.ph