CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- An official of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation recently urged farmers’ groups and cooperatives to have their agricultural investments like crops, farm animals and implements insured against unforeseen natural calamities and losses.

PCIC-Central Luzon Manager Romeo Gonzales said the farmers should not be afraid of the rate of premiums they will pay for the insurance of their crops and other agricultural investments.

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“Our premiums are affordable and reasonable. These are actually rated on a case-to-case basis and on a per season rate. For example, we have low rates during the dry season and reasonable rates during the wet season. What is very important here is that they are covered by PCIC for unforeseen calamities like Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng which destroyed millions in pesos of farm crops,” Gonzales said.

He said that to date, the PCIC here has compensated some 1,800 farmers from Bataan, Tarlac, Zambales, Bulacan and Pampanga.

“To date, we have partially released about P7.59 million for some 19 farmers’ groups all over the region. But our adjusters are still deployed in these provinces and working overtime to verify the extent of crop losses of farmers who have filed notices of loss. The farmers should be afraid as PCIC has the resources for their claims so they can start rebuilding their lives and farms,” Gonzales said.

He added that in Pampanga alone, eight farmers’ groups with an average of 20 farmer-members have received P2.5 million in insurance claims, with each group averaging claims from P60,000 to P1 million.

“We urge our farmers not to be afraid of insuring their crops. We at PCIC are ready to help them anytime so they can visit us at our office here in San Fernando for more information on how we can protect their investments,” Gonzales said.