Green urges farmers to sign up for insurance

KINGSTON:

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green has charged the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Grace Kennedy (GK) Insurance team to have more farmers sign up for coverage under the GK Weather Protection Programme.

He was speaking at the recent handover of a J$2.88 million cheque to 98 RADA farmer beneficiaries under the programme.

GK Weather Protection is a parametric insurance product designed to safeguard the livelihoods of local farmers and fishers from extreme weather events such as excess rainfall, drought and hurricane winds.

The minister noted that the Government's investment of $7.5 million in the programme has not yet been utilised, despite being sufficient to fund a basic insurance package for more than 1,000 participating farmers.

"So, I'm challenging the GK team and the RADA team, as we go out to deliver our... recovery assistance, let us also sign up people as they come to collect seeds and fertiliser and things like that to get back going. Let us sign them up for the insurance programme so that at least we know there is a layer of protection that can help them if any other weather event befalls us," he said.

The minister extended a call for farmers to sign up, noting that weather projections are for an extremely dry season starting between January and February.

"So, I'm saying to the farmers, that this again is an opportunity for us to take advantage of the facilities that are available to help you help yourselves and the Government is providing support in that regard," he said.

Fishers, he noted, also need to take up the insurance offer, pointing out that Hurricane Melissa damaged more than 3,300 fishing vessels, leaving a trail of devastation from parts of the parish of Clarendon through to St Elizabeth, Westmoreland and into Hanover.

"I think we have not yet made a strong enough case for the fishers to appreciate that Weather Protect can also provide them with some protection," Green contended.

"So, part of what I want the GK Insurance team to do is to engage the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and to also get to our fishers, to have them appreciate that this policy is an agricultural-based policy covering crops, livestock, and fishers," he pointed out.

He argued that if fishers were a part of the insurance programme, they would be reaping the benefits now, to start rebuilding their livelihoods.

Green congratulated GK Insurance for its collaboration with the ministry in creating the parametric insurance scheme, while imploring them to consistently look at revisions to improve the programme.

Over 40,000 hectares of farmland and approximately 70,000 farmers were impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

- CMC