Villanueva: El Niño mitigation plan should cover farmers’ insurance woes

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva. Senate PRIB file photo

MANILA, Philippines —The government should include solutions to farmers’ agricultural insurance woes in its plan to mitigate the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon, according to Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva.

Villanueva is concerned about low farmer participation in agricultural insurance as the country prepares for extreme natural events caused by climate change and disasters.

“Our agriculture insurance program needs to be future-ready and easily accessible for the benefit of our farmers and fisherfolk,” he said in a statement.

Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Labor Force Survey in January, Villanueva noted that 10.5 million, or about 22.2 percent of the employed Filipinos, have their incomes rooted in the agricultural sector.

“If we don’t take the necessary measures to protect it, we will see a severe decline in employment, which will in turn lead to low agricultural production, endangering the livelihood of millions of Filipinos in the sector and also our country’s food security,” he said.

Villanueva renewed the push for his proposed Senate resolution, urging the appropriate panel to investigate the impacts of large-scale natural events, calamities, and climate change and the state of the government’s agricultural insurance programs.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, an El Niño Alert will be issued by May and is expected to last until 2024.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has created a government team to prepare for a possible water shortage and mitigate the effects of El Niño.

READ: President orders creation of team to mitigate El Niño impact

JPV/abc