PIA | Philippine Information Agency | Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation’s new crop insurance to benefit 150 farmersTUGUEGARAO CITY, March 5 (PIA) — In collaboration with the government’s efforts towards food sufficiency program, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) Region 2 is set to implement a new insurance package that will surely help 150 corn and rice farmers in times of calamities in Cagayan. Edna Marallag, regional manager, said the weather index base insurance is the newest program of PCIC, which aims to insure the crops of rice and corn farmers who are very vulnerable to calamities that hit the region every year, both on wet and dry season. Marallag explained that in the past years, farmers experience severe loss of harvest due to typhoons and floods during the wet season as well as during dry seasons due to the severe El Nino phenomenon that used to hit the region. PCIC has allotted P17 million for the pilot project that will benefit 150 farmers, 100 for corn and 50 for rice planters in the town of Penablanca and this city as the pilot areas. “The weather index base insurance is aimed at responding quickly to the financial relief of farmers who are severely affected by calamities, for them to have something to use to replant and for their families’ need in times that their livelihood is damaged,” Marallag stated. However, Marallag clarified that, for now, they only apply the said insurance program in two pilot areas, but, when the program will be fully implemented, they will also cover other municipalities in the whole region. As means of monitoring the severity of damages to the planted agricultural products, PCIC will install automatic weather stations in partnership with the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration and other agencies concerned. Marallag stated that Region 2 is an agricultural region that contributes food stock for nationwide consumption but said to note that natural calamities affect always farmers’ production.