Food Security: Stakeholders meet to brainstorm on friendly insurance policies for farmers in Niger state
From : Our Correspondent
Stakeholders have converged to brainstorm friendly ways insurance companies can sterm down their policies to attract farmers to key into the insurance policy so as to insure their farm products in terms of natural disasters.
The stakeholders are all actors, Niger state government, all insurance firms critical in agriculture sector farmers, experts working on insurance sector and international organisations to brainstorm on how to protect farmer’s investments.
President of National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), Dr Ken Ukaoha, in his opening remarks at a workshop Enhancing Agricultural Resilience through Farmer Centric Insurance Product in Minna on Thursday, said farmers insurance was key in ensuring food security in the country.
The workshop is titled” Improving farmers Resilience and Upscaling Productivity, Incomes, and Livelihood in Rice, Maize, Soyabean, Cowpea and Vegetable Value Chain in Niger state.
Dr Ukaoha said the ongoing massive investment of Niger state governor, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago in agriculture made it necessary for critical actors to meet to come up with ways on how to best protect such huge investment.
He said this can only be achieved by ensuring farmers in the state key into the insurance policy by insuring their crops and products to cover them incase of any disaster.
According to Ukaoha, the administration of Bago is cultivating 10,000 hactares of land in each 25 local government areas, adding that the prediction of seasonal rainfall by NiMET made it necessary for government and farmers to insure their crops.
“There are disasters like flood, deforestation, climate change, droughts and fire outbreak that can affect farmlands, only insurance will help farmers to get back on their feets after such disasters.
“Therefore, this workshop is to discuss ways on how insurance companies can make their policies friendly to farmers to gain their trust and what farmers are expected to also do to get these insurance firms to trust them.
In his remarks, Permanent Secretary of Niger Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Mattew Ahmed, said the workshop is apt, saying the state government is investing about N50 billion in agriculture in wet season farming.
He said through the workshop, farmers will be sensitised on importance of insurance and how it can benefits them.
Ahmed disclosed that only two percent of farmers in Niger state are insuring their crops and called on farmers to key into the insurance policy.
Representative of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Mr Godswill Agwuyi, said the organisation was working to improve lives of small holders farmers through access to credit and finance.
Also, Malam Idris Abini, Chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Niger, disclosed the its members benefited N16 million from an insurance firm in 2018 and 2019.
He promised to sensitise RIFAN members on the importance of insurance, its benefits and the need to key in.
