The Department of Agriculture (DA), together with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), will provide some P17.1 billion worth of crop insurance protection to agrarian reform beneficiaries over the next two cropping seasons.

During signing of the memorandum of agreement, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said that the DA-Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) would implement the crop protection scheme, which is contained under Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries-Agricultural Insurance Program (ARB-AIP).

The insurance protection plan is the first such collaboration between two of the country’s main rural development agencies, and the biggest group plan ever issued by the DA-PCIC.

It aims to provide the agrarian reform farmer-beneficiaries a safety net against crop pests and diseases, as well as the increasingly unpredictable weather patterns brought on by the intensifying climate change over the two cropping seasons this year.

Under the ARB-AIP, over 224,000 ARBs or members of their households farming some 330,000 hectares of land and raising some 30,700 farm animals will be provided premium subsidy and enrolled in the DA-PCIC’s crop insurance programs. DAR will identify the eligible beneficiaries.

Of these targeted beneficiaries, 99,580 are rice farmers tilling 178,801 hectares; 37,772 corn farmers, 72,506 hectares; and 85,760 commercial crop farmers, 78,633 hectares.

Each beneficiary shall be provided protection cover for up to three hectares and up to three types of insurance coverage only. Three hectares is the maximum size of farm that ARB can get under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. The insurance protection is good for two cropping seasons.

Additionally, the beneficiaries will be provided protection against loss of limbs or life under the DA-PCIC’s Accident and Dismemberment Security Scheme. Exactly 155,360 such policies will be supported under the program. Premium cost for this insurance line will be sourced from the interest income of the DAR-Government Premium Subsidy (DAR-GPS) Fund.

Legitimate beneficiaries only
The program beneficiaries must be participants of key DAR programs, like the Agrarian Reform Connectivity and Economic Support Service, Agrarian Production Credit Program, Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development, and Microfinance Capacity Development in Agrarian Reform Areas. DAR will identify the eligible beneficiaries.

DAR will put up the premium subsidy worth P1 billion for the DAR-GPS for agrarian reform beneficiaries. Of the amount, P533.78 million will be allocated for rice farmers, P385.82 million for corn farmers, P79.09 million for high value crop farmers and P1.31 million for livestock. The premium cost for the individual farmer’s life and limb coverage will amount to P5.43 million.

For its part, DA-PCIC will provide the insurance cover worth some P17.07 billion. Of the sum, some P4.94 billion will be reserved for rice, P2 billion for corn, P2.35 billion for commercial crops, P13 million for livestock, and some P7.77 billion for the individual farmer’s life and limb.

In case the risks or perils come to pass, the DA-PCIC will pay out damage claims from these beneficiaries within 20 days, less than the 60-day reglamentary period.

Depending on the extent of damage and the cost of farm investment, the farmers may receive payments for damages worth P39,000 to P52,000 a hectare for inbred and hybrid rice, respectively; P28,000 and P40,000 for every hectare of open-pollinated and hybrid corn, respectively; and up to P50,000 for life and limb. These are various indemnity figures for commercial crops and animals as there are many types of crops and animals involved.

An attached agency of the DA, the PCIC is the country’s sole provider of crop insurance. Its partnership with DAR is its biggest and broadest undertaking to date.