ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
April 7, 2014
After Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines expands crop insurance
SHARING THE RISK. A farmer prepares a rice
field for planting in Calamba city, Laguna province,
about 44 miles south of Manila, the Philippines. The
aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Typhoon
Yolanda) in the Philippines has added urgency to find-
ing a solution to a longstanding problem: Less than 10
percent of farmers have crop insurance, and while its
advantages are widely understood, few can afford it.
Crop insurance is the least of priorities when there is
often not even enough money for food. (AP Photo/
Bullit Marquez)
By Teresa Cerojano
The Associated Press
C
ALAMBA, The Philippines — The
aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan
(also known as Typhoon Yolanda)
in the Philippines has added urgency to
finding a solution to a longstanding prob-
lem: Less than 10 percent of farmers have
crop insurance, and while its advantages
are widely understood, few can afford it.
Raymundo dela Vina, an 81-year-old
farmer in Laguna province near Manila,
likened raising crops to betting in a lottery:
You go against so many odds including
pests and an average of 20 typhoons that
pummel the country each year, flooding
small rice paddies like his.
The country’s 10.8 million farmers are
part of the second poorest industry after
fishermen. Many are tenant tillers who
share their harvest with landowners and
go into debt to pay for seeds, fertilizer, and
pest control. Crop insurance is the least of
their priorities when there is often not
even enough money for food.
But the government wants to change
that.
Officials and international aid groups
are discussing ways to boost resilience to
disasters after one of the strongest
typhoons on record killed more than 6,200
people and flattened towns in the central
Philippines on November 8, 2013. Better
protections are vital for the poor who often
end up deeper in poverty with every
calamity.
A World Bank report estimated that
natural calamities cut a 0.8 percentage
point from the country’s economic growth
rate each year on average. The proportion
of people living in poverty in 2013 may
have risen to 26.4 percent from 25.2 per-
cent the previous year despite economic
growth of more than seven percent,
according to a government report.
Government-subsidized insurance that
covers 30,000 pesos ($668) of a farmer’s
production cost per hectare each cropping
season is a big help, farmer dela Vina said.
Jovy Bernabe, president of government-
owned insurer Philippine Crop Insurance
Corp., said the program is being expanded
this year, with free policies to be given to
800,000 farmers in the 20 poorest
provinces plus six provinces directly hit by
Haiyan.
Last year, the agency enrolled for free
224,000 poor farmers who had become
landowners under agrarian reform,
raising the number of insured to 750,000.
Expansion of the crop insurance pro-
gram, private micro-insurance against ca-
lamities for families, and a proposed disas-
ter risk insurance for towns pegged to
measurable factors like rainfall volume
are among mechanisms being imple-
mented or studied to brace for future
catastrophes.
In dela Vina’s case, the crop insurance
corporation subsidizes half of his pre-
mium. He pays about a third of the cost or
1,108 pesos ($25) per hectare through a
farmers’ cooperative while state-run Land
Bank of the Philippines takes care of the
balance.
About 12 percent of subsistence rice
farmers now have crop insurance, a leap
from two percent in 2009, Bernabe said.
Numbers are lower for farmers planting
other crops.
He said 750,000 enrollees is a “good
number” compared with previous years.
Bernabe said the national government
wants local government to jointly
subsidize policies to bring down the cost in
areas where they are not free. It also wants
private insurance companies, farmers’
cooperatives, and rural banks to get
involved.
“Without insurance you just leave
everything to god because there are always
disasters and your expected harvest could
be totally wiped out,” dela Vina said. It
brings down risks, especially for tenant
tillers who fall deeper into debt when they
fail to harvest, the sprightly octogenarian
said.
His four-hectare (9.9-acre) farm near the
rim of Laguna Lake had been under water
since August last year, when another
typhoon, Trami, coupled with heavy
southwest monsoon rains and lake
siltation caused severe flooding in Manila
and nearby provinces. His insurance has
indemnified about a third of his 400,000-
peso ($9,000) loss. It’s enough capital to
plant again.
In February, the flooding finally dried
up after six months, and a young farm
helper was guiding a water buffalo as it
pulled a plow around dela Vina’s farm to
prepare for planting the next day. It was
more than two months late for December’s
cropping season.
In provinces on Haiyan’s path, including
Samar, Eastern Samar, and Leyte,
however, coconut farmers will take longer
to recover.
An estimated 33 million coconut trees
were damaged or destroyed by the super
typhoon’s ferocious winds and tsunami-
like storm surge, practically all of them
uninsured. It will take at least six years for
the coconut farms to return to full
production.
Budget secretary Butch Abad has said
there will be substantial funds for crop
insurance, microcredit, and guarantees
under the 2015 budget as part of moves to
boost resilience to disasters.
For Anselmo Gecolea, a 73-year-old
tenant farmer also from Laguna,
insurance helps, but is not enough. High
costs and shrinking earnings are making
farmers like him desperate, he said.
The grandfather of 12 said his 1.5-
hectare (3.7-acre) rice farm and vegetable
plot are all he relies on for a living and
almost nothing is left of earnings after
deducting land rent, fertilizer cost, and
debt payment.
“So when I do not harvest when there is a
typhoon, I really sink in debt,” he said with
a somber look on his weather-beaten face.
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