The next administration should expand crop insurance and provide a more extensive coverage to help farmers cope with climate change, a non-governmental organization said over the weekend.
Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) Executive Director Jayson Cainglet urged presidential hopefuls in the May 2016 elections to include the expansion of the crop insurance in their economic agenda.
“We need the assurance that whatever happens, farmers will be able to replant their crops and growers will be able to raise their chicken and pigs,” Cainglet told the BusinessMirror.
He said the P1.6 billion given to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) for 2016 is only enough to cover a fraction of Filipinos involved in agriculture.
“PCIC’s budget can only cover 5 percent of farmers in the country. It would not help much if we are hit by calamities,” Cainglet said.
Last year Sinag said the government should increase its budget for crop insurance by tenfold to allow farmers to recoup losses caused by natural calamities.
Cainglest also said the next administration should ensure that small producers are automatically covered by PCIC, and are compensated once they incur losses.
Christopher Morales, officer in charge of the Department of Agriculture’s Field Operation Service, said the government is rolling out programs and interventions to battle the negative impacts of El Niño, and is preparing for the possible occurrence of La Niña.
“We are making sure that we have available seeds to provide farmers for damaged crops that need replanting. We will also advise farmers whether they need to harvest early, or if they should defer farming to avoid losses,” Morales said.
Apart from the expansion of crop insurance, Sinag also called on presidential bets to consider waiving irrigation fees and to prioritize the fight against smuggling.
“What’s killing the agriculture sector for the past 10 years is really the smuggling of agricultural products,” he said, adding that the next administration should determine why smuggling is “lucrative” in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto urged the government to release funds for the equipment upgrade of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) pursuant to a law modernizing the agency.
Recto said an initial P3 billion for new weather-forecasting facilities has been authorized under the Pagasa Modernization Act, which President Aquino signed into law on November 3, 2015, as Republic Act 10692.
With the possibility of a La Niña episode this year, Recto said the release of funds “is crucial, as Pagasa actually incurred a budget cut this year, from P3.44 billion in 2015 to P1.21 billion for 2016.”
He said Pagasa needs to have more equipment and weather stations installed in other parts of the country. The 13th Doppler radar was inaugurated in Iloilo last Friday.
Recto said Pagasa has only P4.2 million this year to install, repair and maintain telemetering and multiplex system for flood forecasting and warning system in 18 major river basins. With Butch Fernandez