The insurance arm of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has released nearly P3.4 billion in indemnity payment to farmers last year following weather disturbances that hit the country.

The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) said the DAattached agency paid P3.397 billion to farmers and fisherfolk for damages to standing crops and properties for the whole year.

The indemnity payments is 75 percent higher than the P1.93 billion paid in the previous year.

The payment allowed 442,035 farmers to restart their operations after farm damage, minimize financial losses, and prevent significant disruption in the supply of food in the market.

Most insured farmers and fisherfolk also received the payments in 20 days or less according to PCIC’s improved and ISO-certified systems.

“PCIC has successfully boosted access by farmers, fisherfolk and their allies to agricultural insurance, securing their livelihoods and supporting the efficiency of local farming,” PCIC president and CEO Jovy Bernabe said.

The PCIC has also provided insurance cover to some 2.27 million farmers and fisherfolk, the highest in its corporate history so far.

The number of insured is 34 percent more than the 1.7 million covered the previous year, and more than twice the 1.09 million covered in 2016.

From 2016 to 2018, record showed a growth rate in farmer access by 108 percent.

Further, assets covered included mostly rice, corn and high-value crop farms totalling 1.84 million hectares, 39 percent higher than the 1.32 million insured in 2017.

The PCIC provides insurance protection to farmers against losses arising from natural calamities, plant diseases and pest infestations of palay, corn and other crops.

From providing rice and corn insurance, the firm has evolved and developed an expanded range of insurance products that now includes high-value crops, livestock, fisheries, non-crop agricultural assets, and credit and life-term insurance.