Senator Imee Marcos on Sunday revived her call to expand crop insurance for farmers, as Typhoon Rolly’s expected fury threatens to obliterate thousands of hectares of the country’s major rice, corn, coconut and vegetable crops.
Marcos, chair of the Senate committee on economic affairs, said farmers in Ilocandia through Central Luzon and Bicol are already deep in debt in the wake of recent typhoons that flattened ricelands in the middle of the main October harvest.
She added that farmers whose crops were not insured are unlikely to recover in the next planting season.
“We may be confronted with massive shortages, compelled to import, and the vicious cycle just widens and deepens. Even before GAA 2021 is passed, we should increase the government’s crop insurance pay-outs ASAP,” Marcos said.
“Covered by sufficient insurance, farmers may have a fighting chance to survive this lost harvest season. Until relevant legislation is passed, farmers will have little means to cope with natural calamities or pest infestations,” she added.
Marcos filed Senate Bill 883 in August last year to insure more farmers and fisherfolk covered by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), counting only 2.27 million or 33.5 percent of their total number, as of 2018.
Farmers will not need to wait for a state of calamity to be declared or agricultural damage to be assessed before they can collect on their insurance, according to the bill.
“A farmer would be able to automatically avail of payment even at the height of a typhoon, as soon as predetermined rainfall and windspeed thresholds are reached in what we call an index-based system,” Marcos explained.
“Farmers in far-flung areas will have an alternative to the traditional system that offers higher pay-outs but requires the tedious filing of claims and assessment of damages,” she added.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
No comments:
Post a Comment