Agricultural insurance as social protection and nutrition-sensitive agriculture strategy

Agriculture is vital to countries of the world, providing food for the population and employment for many farmers and fisherfolks. It is also the sector that is most vulnerable to the effects climate change. With the continued global warming and forecasted increase in extreme weather events due to climate change, agricultural production worldwide will suffer losses and will result in food shortages, increase in cost of food, and consequently malnutrition among the poor, especially those in developing countries. One of the measures to address the losses in food production is agricultural insurance. Agricultural insurance is a risk transfer mechanism that protects the farm investments of farmers and fisherfolk against damages due to natural calamities, pests and diseases and other risks insured against. Indemnity paid by the insurer to the farmer/fisherfolk for agricultural/fisheries losses can be used to finance and continue the farming/fisheries activities of the insured. Insurance encourages lenders to provide loans for farming/fisheries activities thereby ensuring continued food production. Thus, insurance as a risk transfer mechanism helps arrest increasing food shortages, hunger and malnutrition. In the Philippines, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation implements the country's agricultural insurance program. Established in 1981, PCIC has 37 years' experience in agricultural insurance and has been providing various agricultural insurance products, including special agricultural insurance programs with government-subsidized premiums for subsistence farmers and fisherfolk. PCIC has 13 regional offices. 76 provincial extension offices/service desks and 4050 insurance partners nationwide. Among the insurance products of PCIC are its organic farming and urban farming insurance packages. Among the measures that need to be taken to meet the challenges posed by climate change are the following conduct of a large-scale farmers' literacy program on climate change adaptation, Good Agricultural Practices, Code Of Practice for Aquaculture, development and implementation of science-based and cost-effective measures in increasing food production as contained in various Philippine laws on agricultural modernization and climate change adaptation and mitigation. These need to be adequately financed and fully implemented as soon as possible to prevent or lessen food shortages, increase in food prices and consequently, the occurrence of hunger and malnutrition among the poor sector in developing countries. The government of all countries, together with the private sector, the academe, research institutions, international technical cooperating agencies and donors, and other stakeholders need to continuously and actively work together to address the destructive effects of climate change and the challenges these pose to food production and provision of safe and nutritious food to the increasing world population. Adequate agricultural insurance protection to the farmers, fisherfolk and other agricultural producers and stakeholders can help in meeting these challenges.