Agriculture workers in Cebu get insurance | Sun.Star.

CEBU CITY — Over 7,000 farmers and fishers in Cebu are now covered by insurance that will help them cope with storms and other calamities.

The Cebu Provincial Government will pay for the coverage worth P255.7 million, which an insurance official described as the most comprehensive among local governments nationwide.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia distributed Friday in Argao town the certificates of insurance coverage in the province’s second district.

She said the insurance will cushion the beneficiaries in case calamities affect them or their produce. She confirmed the Capitol will pay for the premiums to protect farmers and fishermen, the sector most vulnerable to climate change.

The distribution was made on the heels of Tropical Depression Ramon, which destroyed an estimated P12 billion in goods and produce in the country.

So far, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has released P330 million in insurance benefits, to cover the damage to agriculture.

Lawyer Jovy Bernabe, PCIC president, said only 27,000 farmers in Luzon were insured, or about five percent of the sector’s population.

“It’s very hard to convince them,” he said.

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