UP TO P127 million in crop insurance will be paid to farmers affected by Tropical Storm “Urduja” in Southern Tagalog as well as in three Visayas regions, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Wednesday.
In addition, Piñol said the Department of Agriculture has also approved an emergency loan program package amounting to P25,000 per farmer’s family, which will be released initially to affected farmers in Regions 4B, 5, 6 and 7.
Piñol said the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. will initially pay insurance on crops damaged, based on its initial assessment that 17,186 farmers were severely affected by “Urduja” in those regions.
He said PCIC president Jovy Bernabe earlier assured him that P127 million has been set aside by the state-run insurance corporation in aid of farmers who suffered huge losses to the storm.
PCIC will promptly “update its damage assessments, following the onslaught of a second typhoon, ‘Vinta,’ which mainly affected regions in the Southern Philippines,” Piñol was quick to add.
He said based on PCIC’s needs assessments of Urduja victims in the agriculture sector, 3,891 farmers in Region 4B will be paid P20.1 million; 5,344 farmers in Region 5 will receive P27.5 million; 5,125 affected farmers in Region 6 will be granted P26.8 million; and 2,826 farmers in Region 7 will be paid P25.8 million.
According to Agriculture Assistant Secretary Andrew Villacorta, field operations head, buffer seeds from other DA regional offices were being shipped to typhoon-hit areas.
Piñol said he had also ordered Executive Director Jocelyn Badiola of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council to validate the number of families of accredited farmers and fisherfolk affected by the typhoons, so they could be granted the SURE loaning program.
SURE, short for Survival and Recovery, allots P25,000 in loans to farming and fisherfolk families affected by calamities.
Of that amount, P5,000 is given as grant, and the remaining P20,000 as a non-interest bearing loan with no collateral payable in three years, Piñol said.
Local governments of the typhoon-ravaged areas are required to submit a municipal resolution, declaring a state of calamity in their areas which along with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council data will be used as bases for granting SURE loans to farmers.
Piñol said he had also directed Undersecretary Francisco Villano, his concurrent chief of staff, to ensure the delivery of assistance and services to the typhoon-affected areas.