MORE than 430,000 farmers have received indemnity checks worth P2.65 billion from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) as of end-October.
Data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that the PCIC paid out a total of P2.65 billion in insurance claims to 439,087 farmers and fisherfolk from the January to October period.
Broken down, the agency attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA) issued indemnity checks worth P1.81 billion for rice, covering 321,114 farmers; P426.54 million for corn to 77,385 farmers; P167.33 million for high-value crops to 20,618 farmers;
Furthermore, the agency paid out P195.27 million for livestock to 14,689 raisers and P14.14 million for fisheries to 2,824 fisherfolk.
The PCIC also released P33.19 million for credit and life term insurance covering 1,389 farmers and P12.49 million for non-crop agri asset to 1,067 farmers.
Data from the agency indicated that the bulk of the payout in the reference period was in Mimaropa at P519.47 million, which covered 35,652 farmers. This was followed by Western Visayas and Central Luzon at P328.87 million and P257.12 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, the PCIC noted that it paid out P50.86 million to 6,169 farmers in the first week of November as compensation for the damages caused by recent typhoons.
The chunk of the indemnification checks in this period were released to Mimaropa at P14.99 million, followed by Ilocos Region at P10.71 million and Western Visayas at P10.38 million.
In 2024, the PCIC said over 4.2 million farmers and fishers were insured, an increase of 7.76 percent from 2023. The coverage totaled P141.561 billion.
The agency noted that indemnity payouts reached P5.031 billion, which benefitted over 815,000 farmers and fisherfolk.
The PCIC earlier said it is seeking additional funds in 2026 to increase the number of insured farmers and fishermen to nearly five million by next year. The agency said it will need around P5.5 billion budget to achieve this, from its current P4.5 billion funding.
Loan program
Meanwhile, the DA’s Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), through its Survival and Recovery (SURE) loan program, has released P139.7 million to 5,506 borrowers from the period of January to September.
This was about 95 percent of the total P147.3 million loans granted to 5,955 individual borrowers in 2024, which helped farmers and fisherfolk recoup from the damage to their livelihoods.
SURE allows up to P25,000 per borrower to support the rehabilitation of agricultural and livelihood activities of farmers and fishers in areas declared under a ‘state of calamity’ by the agency or local governments. This comes with a three-year repayment term, interest-free.