By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter
LAOAG CITY—Almost 3,000 farmers and fisherfolks in Ilocos Norte will get free insurance coverage courtesy of the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.
From July 11 to 31, 2019, field workers from the Office of the Provincial Agriculture will reach out to registered farmers and fisherfolk associations in the entire province to conduct technical briefing among target beneficiaries.
For life insurance premiums pegged at PHP375 per beneficiary, the Ilocos Norte government allocated over P1 million for 2019.
Meanwhile, the PCIC will shoulder the crop, fishery and livestock of the program beneficiaries.
“The insurance program will be of great help to our farmer and fisherfolk beneficiaries since it guarantees that they can recoup farm losses that they may incur due to natural calamities,” said Dr. Luz Tabora, Provincial Agriculture Office officer-in-charge.
Ms. Tabora explained the insurance program covers farmers’ crops damaged by diseases, pest infestation, and natural calamities, such as typhoons, floods, drought, tornado and earthquakes.
Recently, Ilocos Norte has experienced moderate to heavy rainfall brought about by typhoon Falcon.
Fortunately, this has been an answered prayer to farmers who had been longing for the rain so they could start planting rice again after the dry season.
To date, an estimated 19,709 hectares out of the 51,273 irrigated rice land in the province has been planted while most farmers in rainfed areas take advantage of the amount of rainfall to start planting anew.