Solon files

weather-based
H
insurance bill
o
N r,es Ptftas ciry Rep. camille vil-
\f
FI
lar wants crop insurance indexed to
e, weather to shield small farmers from
!u
o extteme lveather emergencies.
o
F She said that indexing the crop in-
(J
o surance'to weather conditions would
make the insurance coverage process
o and payment to farmer beneficiaries
z fasler and with lesser-bred type com-
E pared to conventional crop insurance.
"Weather index-based crop insur-
ance (WIBCI) is a unique insurance
product based on the occurrence of
breach of a weather-based param-
eter, which serves as legal proof of
the occurrence of extremely adverse
weather conditions and proxy for lhe
expected crop damage," said Villar in
her House Bill 3310.
She said thnt the WIBCI is an in-
novation that requires less adminis-
trative costs in terms of selling the
product, administering the policy
coverage and monitoring over wide
ateas.
"It maximizes the use of relevan!
technologies and networks in order
to reach out more and more farm-
ers; and provides fastdr palout turn-
around in the event of breach of, the
agreed ppramemrs without need for
bureaucratic probessing by an ad-
juster. The h6ssle-free disbursemeat
of claims is made possible through
the use of technology and a widely
distributed net'ivork of payment cent-
ers," she said,
Weather index-based insurance is
an attractive approach to managing
weather and climate risks because it
uses a weatler index, such as rain-
fall, to determine payouts aDd these
can be made more quickly and with ,

less argument than is typical for con-

ventional crop insurance.
Villar said the WIBCI-type clop
insurance would essentially improve
and expand the current coverage atrd
mandat€ of the Philippine Crop In-
surance Corp., which "so far, it has
too few participants and very mi-
niscule outreach compared with the
total number of farmers that is sup-
posed to be served.'
From 2013 up 1o 20i7, Congress
has been appropriating an average of
P1.55 billion per year to subsidize the
PCIC insurance premiums on up to
600,000 hectares of rice farms in a .r I
number of provinces. Rio N. Araja " PAV{ - Ag'