THE Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), North East Zone, has advised farmers to embrace insurance culture to safeguard their investment against calamities caused by climate change.
The Zonal Manager, Malam Ahmed Arabi, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Bauchi.
Arabi observed that agricultural insurance among Nigerian farmers had remained unpopular despite the threat of climatic change in the country, which sometimes resulted in heavy losses to farmers.
The manager said the two major groups of farmers relating with NAIC were those who patronise the corporation voluntarily and those whose dealing had become mandatory because of the loans they took from banks.
All loans that are granted by banks or other lending agencies are automatically insured by NAIC if they are agricultural loans. In this case, farmers are being mandated to insure their investment.
As a result, most of our clients happen to be those from the mandatory category; only few clients that have tested us and believe that we could serve as rescue unit, come on their own," he said.
He said that periodic losses by farmers on account of natural disasters like flood and drought had often left some of them impoverished.
According to him, most farmers, especially those in the northern part of the country, see losses from natural disasters like flood and disease as seasonal calamities that must occur as at when due.
They also believe that such natural phenomenon cannot be prevented and therefore do not need preventive measures.
"Consequently, some farmers lack the least capital to continue farming even at domestic scale after such disasters," he said.
He explained that if farmers, faced by such disasters, had insured their investment, the insurance cover would have cushioned the effect of their losses and enabled them remain in business.
There is therefore the need to enlighten our farmers to see agricultural insurance as a serious safety net that would safeguard their investment against losses and ensure continuity," he stressed.
Arabi lamented that all efforts to make farmers appreciate the advantages of agricultural insurance had failed to yield the desired result, attributing the situation to the general apathy by Nigerian public towards insuring their property or investment.
The situation has remained unchanged even with federal and state governments bearing part of farmers insurance cost through subsidised agricultural insurance scheme being provided by NAIC," he said.
Source: NAN
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