The Department of Agriculture (DA) has called on the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) to modernize its operations and enhance the accessibility of its insurance products and services to better cater to farmers, fisherfolk, and livestock raisers.
In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said it is important to digitalize PCIC's processes, upgrade its technologies, and innovate insurance products to offer enhanced protection for its clients.
PCIC, an agency recently brought back under the umbrella of the DA, plays a role in supporting food production by providing insurance coverage to farmers, fishermen, and livestock raisers against natural disasters, diseases, pests, and other risks.
With an annual budget of P4.5 billion allocated from the General Appropriations Act, PCIC primarily focuses on indemnifying insurance claims, having processed 744,000 farmer claims last year alone.
In 2024, PCIC aims to broaden coverage to reach 1.2 million farmers, 21,000 livestock raisers, and stakeholders in the fisheries sector.
Laurel said that PCIC needs to evolve from traditional practices, stressing the importance of adopting advanced crop insurance models similar to those in neighboring countries like Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
These improvements aim to enhance indemnification processes which currently rank among the most substantial in the region.
“We’re doing it the way we’ve been doing it for X number of years, it’s time for PCCI to level up,” Tiu Laurel said.
Beyond risk protection for farmers and fisherfolk, Tiu Laurel highlighted the potential for insurance to serve as collateral for accessing financial services from banks and other institutions.
He also suggested widening PCIC's reinsurance strategies to better manage the agency's risk profile effectively.