AFTER the onslaught of Typhoons Pedring and Quiel, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) disclosed that it will be expediting the release of P334-million credit to Luzon farmers whose crops were damaged by the twin typhoons.
In a report to Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, PCIC President Jovy C. Bernabe said the amount is the biggest payout the agency will be making to date. This is done in response to the severity of the twin typhoons and as an expansion measure of PCIC’s insurance coverage in the past year.
“Fast-tracking the indemnity payments will enable particularly rice and corn farmers to recover their losses and replant again,” Bernabe said in a statement.
Bernabe said their preliminary assessment showed about P333.93 million worth of crops, mostly palay, were insured in 30 provinces covering the entire Luzon.
The typhoons affected 26,794 insured farmers and a combined insured farm area of 40,138 hectares.
Apart from the speedy release of the crop insurance claims of Luzon farmers, Bernabe said they will also reactivate their adjusters in the private sector to help the PCIC cope with the huge task of verifying the crop insurance claims of farmers.
Apart from the PCIC, the DA is also extending other assistance to affected Luzon farmers. Alcala already instructed the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy storm-damaged palay to provide farmers enough money for their daily needs.
The DA will also be providing free certified seeds from the DA seed buffer stock to help farmers replant as soon as possible. This will help make a “Quick-Turn-Around” palay production program to recover losses due to the typhoons.
“The DA will link up with agribusiness enterprises, particularly fertilizer and seed companies, to encourage them to implement a plant-now, pay-later scheme, coupled with a rice marketing tie-up with the NFA,” Alcala added.
He said despite the severity of the typhoon damage, particularly on palay farmers, he remains firm in saying that there is no need to import additional rice for 2011.
The DA already created an interagency task force to assess and validate the actual damage, particularly on palay, corn and high-value crops. Alcala said this effort will complement the ongoing October 2011 palay production survey which is conducted every quarter by the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Statistics.
The survey results will include the final estimate of the third-quarter palay production, the projected fourth-quarter palay production based on standing crop, and projected 2012 first-quarter production based on farmers’ planting intentions.
