2019
This is an Entry to the Government Best Practice Recognition Awards
Title
PCIC-Provincial LGU Partnership to Raise Insurance Consciousness and Coverage among Farmers, Fisherfolk and Other Farmworkers and Climate-Proof Local Food Security and Agricultural Development Plans
Organization
Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC)
Best practice Focus Area(s)
Leadership, Customer and citizen focus
Summary
The practice involves forging of partnerships with the Provincial Local Government Units (PLGU) to promote agricultural insurance. On the one hand, it leverages available Philippine Crop Insurance (PCIC) resources, so it can cover more farmers and fisherfolk because the PLGU shoulders the premium cost that is normally subsidized by the PCIC. On the other, it enables the PLGUs to climate-proof their food security programs, ensuring the availability of funds to restart farming when calamities and other perils strike. Assistance becomes institutional, rather than ad hoc and political. This promotes good governance. The practice was started in 2011 by the PCIC SVP Antonio S. Uy ll with Cebu Provincial Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia.
Background and Problem
Even as the PCIC is tasked by law to cover all rice and corn farmers, it never had the adequate infrastructure, equipment, capitalization, and human resources to reach them, much less the other agricultural workers. This lack of resources was highlighted in 2013 when the government premium subsidy for rice and corn farmers rose from P184 Million to P1 Billion. The PCIC was expected to fully allocate a huge amount during the year.
The objectives of the strategy are, on the part of the PCIC:
- To increase the number of farmers, fisherfolk and other agricultural workers covered by insurance;
- To increase government premium subsidy for farmers and fisherfolk; and
- To develop a network for quick information that will speed up insurance to farmers and fisherfolk.
On the part of the PLGU, provide quick assistance to its farming constituency when disasters, calamities, and other perils strike their farms. The farmers and fisherfolk are the first to be hit by these calamities and the last to recover. Hence, the partnership came into being as a risk reduction mechanism to combat the effects of climate change. Fulfilling these objectives required that farmers be identified. This was the first benefit gained from the partnership. The rest, corresponding to the objectives, naturally followed.
Solution and Impact
The process starts by sealing the partnership through a Memorandum of Agreement signed by the PCIC Regional Office Manager and the PLGU. The agreement sets out the terms of reference between the parties. The PCIC will ensure the farmers, fisherfolk, and assets identified by the PLGU.
The PLGU will identify potential participants in the insurance program from among their farming constituency and assist in the conduct of orientation-briefing on the insurance programs and enrolling them in the program, and when peril strikes, assist in the filing of claims, complete with documentary requirements as well as validate those claims with the PCIC.
The impact of this formal agreement on the operations of the PCIC, including the farmers participating in the insurance program is immense. On the part of the PCIC, it expands its capacity to reach farmers, fisherfolk, and other agricultural workers to inform and educate them about the availability and benefits of crop insurance and increases participation in agricultural insurance programs. By extension, it allows the PCIC to use up the entire government allocation for insurance premium subsidy for farmers and fisherfolk. Because even the GPS falls short of covering the broadest number of farmers. This partnership also generates funds for the premium of enrolled farmers and fisherfolk.
On the part of the farmers, fisherfolk, and agricultural workers, the partnership brings insurance services closer to them and assures them of quick assistance when needed, particularly during the filing of an application for coverage and application of claim payments. In the end, the partnership broadens PClC’s insurance coverage among farmers and fisherfolk and ensures quick response to farmers and fisherfolk need during covered emergencies.
Milestones
The partnership with the PLGU was replicated in Negros Occidental and Isabela from 2011 to the present. The partnerships with Cebu, Negros Occidental, and Isabela Provincial Government have resulted in the following:
- Participation of the farmers, fisherfolk, and other farmworkers
- Cebu — starting from 11,339 to 320,519 farmers;
- Negros Occidental —starting from 6 to 38,798 farmer;, and
- Isabela — starting from 6,510 to 50,177 farmers
- Generated premiums
- Cebu — P11O.7 Million;
- Negros Occidental — P81.8 Million; and
- Isabela — P391 Million
- Payout or indemnity
- Cebu — P51.976 Million;
- Negros Occidental — P1149 Million; and
- Isabela — P27.09 Million
Because the partnerships freed up the PCIC resources to enable it to focus on other farmers individually in other areas, the number of farmers effectively doubled in terms of its impact on the PClC’s campaign to increase participation in its insurance programs.
The PCIC will continue to replicate the best practices to more PLGUs/LGUs so that it will be able to provide more insurance coverage and increase market penetration nationwide. The PCIC intends to replicate this best practices to 50% of the PLGUs out of 81 PLGUs nationwide by the end of the year 2025.
When it started in 2011, the program has already insured 409,494 farmers and fisherfolk to date. It has already helped 42,731 beneficiaries through P194 Million claims indemnity during calamities. The partnership between the PCIC and the PLGU Cebu has been recognized by the Galing Pook Awards, as a best governance practice in 2018 from the perspective of the PLGU.