THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental is allocating anew P1.5 million as additional fund for the insurance coverage of all its agri-fishery projects and programs in partnership with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC). This is on top of the almost P13.3 million worth of on-farm mechanization program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Field Office Western Visayas to help farmers lessen farm damage and production losses brought by the persisting heat. The Provincial Board (PB) during its regular session yesterday approved and provided authority to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. to enter into agreements with partner-agencies for the implementation of these programs. Fourth District Board Member Victor Javellana, chairman of the committee on agriculture, said the P1.5 million will come from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) fund. Javellana said it is intended as additional fund to cover the province’s counterpart of P500 each to enroll about 3,000 farmers under the Negros First Universal Crop Insurance Program (NFUCIP). “With the persisting El Niño phenomenon, this crop insurance program is really a big help to the farmers to somehow lessen the damage and production losses,” Javellana said, stressing that it is also advantageous for the farmers to be insured since aside from El Niño, their farms are also vulnerable to other calamities, including pest infestation. Under the NFUCIP, enrolled farmers may avail of P17,000 in claims per hectare of damaged farm, and are automatically covered by health and life insurance under the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program (NOCHP). The enrollment premium per cropping season is P840. Of which, only P340 is the counterpart of farmer-enrollees while the remaining P500 is shouldered by the provincial government as loan. The P13.3 million worth of on-farm mechanization program mainly includes the provision of farm mechanization facilities and equipment to identified farmer associations in the province. Under this project, the Provincial Government has a counterpart of almost P1.995 million, or only 15 percent of the total project cost. The remaining 85 percent or P11.305 million is shouldered by the DA Western Visayas. Javellana added that part of these farm facilities were already given to recipient-farmers recently during the Farmers Congress held in Bago City recently. “Even with this assistance initiated by the provincial government, we are still urging farmers to also prepare and implement mitigation measures in their level to further allay possible adverse effects of the existing calamity,” Javellana said. Aside from El Niño, the province is also bracing for other weather changes such La Niña thus, the fund should be utilized efficiently, he added. Source - sunstar.com.ph