Some stakeholders in the nation’s agriculture sector have emphasized the importance of agricultural insurance for farmers in Nigeria to insure their products against losses at a sensitisation workshop organised recently in Abuja, writes PRECIOUS MORDI…

 

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s agriculture sector have stressed the importance of insurance facilities for Nigerian farmers as a way of protecting losses from farm produce.

As part of efforts by the government to protect players in the agriculture sector, the government established the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), disturbed by losses incurred by farmers,  NAIC was established to address their needs.

The establishment of a specialised agricultural insurance outfit became necessary as a result of a vacuum created due to the unwillingness of conventional insurers to accept agricultural risks.

Mrs Folashade Joseph, the Managing Director of NAIC, noted that Nigerian farmers must strive to insure their various agricultural products with the corporation.

This, according to her, remains the only sure path to increase productivity and help to secure the investment of farmers against any known and unknown threat to farm produce across the country.

Joseph harped on the need to understand the role of NAIC in securing farmers interest.

She noted that farmers must endeavour to insure their crops with NAIC not only for a season but on a yearly basis

Joseph said that by insuring their products, NAIC would be able to render necessary risk management services, that would keep the farmers in business and also help to stabilise their income

The NAIC boss stated that it would also help to pull them out of the mire of poverty and despondency occasioned by the impact of natural perils on their investments.

She reiterated the unwavering commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s support to Nigerian farmers in making agriculture a thriving business in the country.

According to her, Buhari’s administration is determined to take agriculture from its former status of the development project to that of a thriving business, which is capable of generating millions of job, in addition to the attainment of food security for the country.

She stressed that in line with the agricultural promotion policy, known as the Green Alternative; several intervention programmes were initiated to target farmers in order to enhance their productivity.

According to her, to realise the futuristic goal of food sufficiency and security, there is a need to channel enormous investments into agriculture.

She also said that the investments should be secured from the several perils lurking agricultural production, occasioned by global climate change phenomenon.

Joseph affirmed that food security was an indispensable aspect of national security, adding that this propelled NAIC to sensitise farmers across the country on the importance of agricultural insurance.

Mr Abdullahi Sabo, Chairman of Kuje Area Council, said in spite of many years of NAIC existence, most farmers were still ignorant of its role.

He said that only a handful of farmers were aware that the corporation could bail them out of any predicament.

According to Sabo, farmers are unaware that they can insure their products; NAIC role is to keep farmers in business by insuring their products in case of fire outbreak and other disasters.

He said that NAIC was the best bet for farmers who are faced with the misfortune of fire outbreaks, pests’ attacks and other unforeseen circumstances.

Mr Ude Ekele, a farmer in FCT, said that the training and sensitisation were very important for farmers’ survival and productivity, adding that a lot of farmers had not benefited from NAIC.

“Farming is a very risky business, the crops, livestock, fisheries and others, but NAIC is there to cushion the effect of any misfortune we suffer as farmers.

“Some time ago, I planted rice, my farm was destroyed and I approached NAIC because I have registered, NAIC came to my rescue and I was given N500, 000 as a compensation for what I lost,” he said.

He stated that though what he lost was greater than the compensation, as a farmer, he was impressed with what he was given by NAIC because it was compensation.

“As a farmer, depending on your level of production, if it is big enough you can approach NAIC, but if it is not so big, you can form a cooperative society and then register,’’ Ekele said.

Mercy Koma-Nana, Secretary, Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SOFON), noted that as a farmer, there was a lot of risks associated with it which should compel farmers to insure their products against such risk.

According to her, the risk begins from when you plant, be it crop or animal farming, the risks are equal, but the good news is that NAIC is able to help you bounce back when the risk occurs and it is also cheap to register with NAIC.

“If you invest about N100, 000 in a farm, you can register with as little as N2000; then the government will come handy to do the rest when you incur losses,” she stated

Koma-Nana stated that farming business was beginning to be lucrative, adding that “before now if you are a farmer, people look at you as a misfit, but it is no longer so.”

Pastor Olasehinde Mustapha, Zonal Programme Manager, FCT Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Kuje Zone, said that if NAIC lives up to expectation, Nigeria will become the hub of agricultural export to African countries and other parts of the world.

“This is the first time NAIC will be coming to us, their constituency which is the farmers because I have been around for 30 years and the ADPs are the real pivotal of grassroots agriculture in Nigeria but have not been in touch with NAIC,” he said

Dr Victor Ofobe, Deputy General Manager, NAIC said that the corporation’s interest was to make farmers know its role, adding that NAIC would not relent in that bid to ensure greater productivity.

He noted that most farmers who claimed not to know the role of NAIC were in their youthful age, stressing that those who had been around for close to 30 years knew about the corporation.

Ofobe stressed that NAIC would not relent in its bid to ensure that Nigerian farmers were equipped with requisite knowledge on how to protect their investments in agriculture.

Recently, about N6.5 billion worth of insurance coverage has been provided for farmers across the country courtesy of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

This was disclosed by the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed at an Agribusiness Summit held in Lagos.

According to Abdulhameed, NIRSAL has developed and launched the Area Yield Index Insurance product. which protected up to N6.5 billion revenues of over 37,399 farmers, with over N121 million paid out as compensation.

 The Area Yield Index Insurance, according to Abdulhameed, covers the expected yield of smallholder farmers as it protects their revenues from losses due to pests, diseases, adverse weather conditions, and other disasters.

NIRSAL was said to have achieved the move of Nigerian agricultural insurance from indemnity-based to index-based insurance by involving and working together with local and international insurance operators.

According to analysts, the importance of the insurance cover for farmers cannot be overemphasized as it would help the smallholder farmers have something to fall back on when their crops or livestock get damaged. It also has great potential to provide value to low-income farmers and their communities, both by protecting farmers when shocks occur and by encouraging greater investment in crops.

NIRSAL had sought for the collaboration of the NAICOM in delivering its mandate under the insurance facility pillar and utilising the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Its insurance facility pillar was designed to expand insurance products for agricultural lending to agricultural primary producers and help reduce credit risks and increase lending across the entire value chain.