SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA: About 3,000 farmers in Antique have filed their notices of claim with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) because of damage caused by drought and attacks of pests and diseases on their crops.

The notices, filed from December until Thursday, covered about 1,200 hectares planted with rice.

‘The total estimated cost of damage on the 1,200 hectares rice crops insured with PCIC is PHP11 million,’ Clogene Galuego, PCIC-Antique provincial head, said in an interview Thursday.

He added that the PCIC would start releasing the indemnity checks by the first week of March for validated insured rice crops.

He noted that the PCIC would pay PHP14,000 for a hectare of damaged rice crops and PHP7,000 for half a hectare.

Galuego added that the PCIC stopped accepting insurance applications for rice crops in rain-fed areas in November 2023 because of the high risk due to the El Niño phenomenon.

It continues for those in irrigated areas where farmers have access to water.

Farmers are also enco
uraged to register with the Department of Agriculture Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture, a requirement to avail of government assistance and register their crops with the PCIC.

Source: Philippines News Agency