Mrs Adewunmi Malik-Adeola, a farmer, on Tuesday called on the Federal Government and insurance companies to provide policies that could mitigate losses that might arise during emergency situation in the agricultural sector.
Malik-Adeola, a livestock and crop farmer, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the call was necessary because most insurance institutions were not willing to insure farms due to its associated risks.
“A lot of farms have closed down because they are not insured. They couldn’t handle the losses or manage their businesses effectively, she said.
She, however, noted that the agricultural sector needed support of the insurance companies for sustainability, saying, “most of them do not have insurance cover due to lack of knowledge or acceptability”.
According to Malik-Adeola, insurance companies are not ready to insure farms because of its high risk nature.
She explained that losses recorded by farmers could be mitigated if insured through the support of the federal government.
Malik-Adeola stressed that the support could be disbursement of intervention funds from government to insurance companies in order to reduce farmers’ exposures to more risk.
She also suggested regular enlightenments and sensitisation programmes on the importance of embracing insurance cover on their farms.
“When farms are insured, farmers would have adequate knowledge on what to do during emergency and how to be good business managers.
“Unfortunately, most insurance firms do not have policies or products that accommodate agribusiness.
“We are calling on the federal government to look into this. We also need the insurance companies to assist farmers mitigate their losses in emergency situations, like the COVID-19, Ebola and the recent cashless policy, which had adverse effects on our businesses.
“More so, no insurance company was ready to pay the losses recorded during that period, ” Malik-Adeola explained.
According to her, farmers were not prepared to handle such difficult situations because they did not have the right knowledge and support from government and insurance companies.
She said, “We want government to help us get insurance cover for our farms, so that our losses will be reduced during emergency situations.
“Insurance is needed for livestock, crops, poultry, rice and other value chains. This is because when anything happens in future, we will be better covered.
“We are not praying for crises or emergencies but when it happens, the insurance will be there to provide support so t everything will not be totally destroyed.”
Malik-Adeola also urged the government to increase budgetary allocation for the agricultural sector to better prepare against looming global food crisis.
She said that the incoming president needs to provide financial support to farmers, provide empowerment, inputs, setup irrigation system, storage system as well as offtake produce directly from farmers.
“The President-elect have a lot to do in the agric sector for it to compete with the oil and gas sector as well as boost the nation’s revenue,” she said. (NAN)
