Corn’s narrow escape

The newspapers report the vast devastation in our agricultural sector wrought by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. Rice fields have been inundated, rice warehouses in the North flooded. Thousands upon thousands of sacks of rice were rendered inutile, unfit for human consumption, and there are talks that we may need to embark on hefty importations again to tide us through these difficult coming months. The rice farmers are hard put to cope with the devastation, but where does this put the other staple farmer, the corn farmer?

According to Phil Maize, the devastation was concentrated on regions 1, 2, 3 and 5. Some 220,000 hectares of corn farms were affected, which translates to less than 1 million kilos of corn. Phil Maize president Roger Navarro says this figure in itself is not alarming. Apparently, the relatively small damage was due to the fact that planting in most of these places is yet to commence in November, thus sparing the crops.

This is not to say, though, that this agricultural sector is not in need of rehabilitation. Their group recently had a consultative meeting with Sec. Arthur Yap of the Dept. of Agriculture where they discussed about reviving the P13/k support price for the corn farmers. The government sector is expected to procure some 300,000 metric tons of corn from the farmers at this price, and then procure another 300,000 metric tons at a much lower price of P10/kilo.

The corn farmers welcome this form of subsidy, saying that they hope to influence the market price of corn with the support price of P13/kilo. Right now, the farmers say they have a surplus harvest sitting in various warehouses across the country, with more harvests from Mindanao expected this November. The high inventory contributes to an already low market price of this commodity, so there is really no fear of a shortage in corn but a big drop in prices.

For the fourth quarter of this year, expected production is 2.5 million metric tons, though some quarters expect a drop here because some farmers may opt to shift to other crops like cassava.

The corn farmers plant twice a year, and these harvests are expected to cover our local consumption for the whole year. The hog and chicken farmers all over the country depend heavily on local corn for their feeds, and the small window the corn farmers have because of the twice a year planting season has given rise to storage and post-harvest problems. Since time immemorial, travelling our highways always entailed seeing kilometers upon kilometers of corn laid out to dry along the road. We have not gotten past this age-old method which dates back to our forefathers. Though this may seem like a charming bucolic scene from some pre-war Filipino movie, it also highlights our sore need to have more post-harvest facilities in corn-growing areas. This has always been the lament of farmers and they are starting to sound like a broken record because nothing much has happened to their pleas.

Filipino farmers are under-insured

Speaking of crop damage, there is one agency attached to the Department of Agriculture that is quick on the draw when it comes to recompense.

Based on the reports of the DA, 280,000 hectares of rice, corn and other high-value crops were damaged by Ondoy and Pepeng. Of this vast tract, only 20,000 hectares have been insured. That represents only about 8% of the total damaged farmlands. This we gathered from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

PCIC president Jovy Bernabe says that their company is the only crop insurance in the country and that no other private insurer has gotten into this business. With the recent typhoons, they are committed to granting indemnities of some P170 million to the affected farmers, though the estimated losses run to about P470 million. That’s because only 8% of these farms were insured.

We really are notorious as a people for being under-insured. The farmers whose lands were flooded for days and weeks after Ondoy cannot hope to recover their losses, unless they can get indemnities, and only if they were insured. It makes me wonder why these farmers have remained adamant about going into crop insurance when the hard figures are brought out for us laymen to appreciate.

We have always been a tropical country vulnerable to typhoons several times a year, every year, and we will always face this problem every year of our lives. Granted, not all typhoons have been as devastating as these two recent ones (especially Ondoy), but crop damage is an annual problem that farmers have to face. Having a safety net in the form of crop insurance is the next best thing.

I can understand, though, the reservations of small farmers rooted on economic concerns. Insurance premiums would eat into their meager profits, and they would rather take their chances on less-devastating typhoons. However, we learned from the PCIC that the government is subsidizing as much as 70% of the premium cost, with the farmer shouldering only the balance of 30%.

Translated into pesos, the farmer has to shell out P300 for every hectare he tills every year. Should calamities occur where his crops are damaged, he stands to be compensated as much as P20,000 per hectare by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation. Further, the PCIC commits to paying out its indemnities to affected farmers twenty days from filing of the claims.

What many farmers don’t know is that PCIC does not limit itself to crop insurance only. They likewise cover losses for tractors and other big farm implements and warehouses due to natural calamities. Crop insurance covers pests and diseases as well.

For these recent typhoons, the crop insurers are fast-tracking the claims to give immediate relief to these farmers. Though bound by procedural requirements, they realize the extent of the recent calamities and have shortened claims time to only two to three weeks. The lucky 8% need not wait too long to get back on their feet and start planting again.

Maybe there is a need to bring this campaign farther down the countryside, to smaller farms that have yet to hear about crop insurance which, by any standard is highly subsidized. Farms as small as one hectare can avail of this. PCIC has actually been linking with rural banks, NGOs and cooperatives in their aggressive campaign to spread the news.

Next year, they will be embarking on another bold concept: weather-based insurance which is a first in the country. From extreme rainfall to drought or the El Nino phenomenon, PCIC, in partnership with local weather station bureau Pag-Asa will compensate for crop losses without need for actual verification on farm sites. That means, on the Pag-Asa certification alone, PCIC will be able to pay out indemnities on extreme weather conditions without the insured farmer even having to file claims.

Check it out if you plan to plant next year.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino. –Ray Butch Gamboa (The Philippine Star)

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