Senator Cynthia Villar wants to expand the scope and coverage of crop insurance in the country following an estimated P5.9-billion damage on the agriculture sector brought by Typhoon “Lando.” Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said the damage to agriculture brought by the typhoon “underscores the need to improve the government’s program to provide insurance protection to farmers.” “After yet another devastating typhoon, we should not only work to restore normalcy; we should do more. It is high time we put in place reforms that will prevent our farmers from losing their source of livelihood everytime a typhoon strikes,” she said in a statement on Thursday. The senator noted that in the proposed 2016 budget of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), only 694,727 subsistence farmers and fisherfolk will be covered by crop insurance services. The PCIC is tasked to ensure that the beneficiaries identified are registered under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture, with priority given to those in localities declared as critical geo-hazard areas or no build zones identified by the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau. Under the PCIC budget, Villar said, P1.6 billion will be appropriated for the insurance premiums of subsistence farmers and fisherfolk to cover crop, livestock, fisheries or non-crop agricultural asset as protection against losses due to natural calamities and pest and diseases. “Although more farmers will be covered this year because of the increase in PCIC’s budget, the fact remains that more farmers will be exposed to the risk of losing their crops and farm animals due to natural disasters,” said the senator. “With an average of 20 typhoons entering the country in a year, our farmers and fisherfolk are always the big losers. This is one of the reasons why poverty incidence is highest in this sector, where two-thirds of our population belong,” she added. Villar said she would draft a bill to expand the scope and coverage of crop insurance. The senator said adaptive measures and strategies to prevent disasters from eroding food security gains should also be developed apart from the climate-resilient varieties of rice, corn and other crops as well as pioneering procedures and advanced technologies being developed and used today. “Strengthening agricultural insurance as a risk-mitigating device will definitely complement other preventive measures,” she further said. Source - http://newsinfo.inquirer.net