Farmers receive insurance claims for destroyed farms
The Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP), a private firm into agricultural insurance scheme, has presented a cheque for GH¢66,869.72 to Agricare Limited as an insurance claim for farmers in four districts in the northern part of the country.
The affected farmers had their farms destroyed by natural disasters, including drought and fire in Tamale, East Gonja, Tolon and Wa East.
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Briefing
The Marketing Manager of GAIP, Mr Jerry Quantson, explained to the Daily Graphic that the payment was in respect of losses made by farmers who were insured by Agricare in that part of the country.
He said the mandate of the company was to compensate investors or farmers who lost their yield as a result of natural disasters.
According to Mr Quantson, last year, Agricare took an insurance cover for 58 nucleus farmers in the northern part of the country from GAIP, but unfortunately, some of them had their farms destroyed.
He described agricultural insurance as an expensive venture, saying that the current changes in weather conditions had made the enterprise unpredictable and an expensive area to cover.
Mr Quantson said it was high time government supported agricultural insurance in the country to mitigate the losses farmers experienced yearly.
He expressed the hope that with the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative by the government, it would consider getting an insurance cover for all beneficiaries under the programme such that in an event of a misfortune, they could rely on the insurance to support affected farmers.
Appreciation
The Board Chairman of Agricare, Dr Kofi Agyekumhene, who received the cheque, said it was heart-warming that farmers now had an opportunity to insure their farms, a situation which was hitherto non-existent because of the expensive nature of agricultural insurance.
He said agricultural activity was a risky business “and so, in our activities, we try to cover them to help them minimise their risk in the event of any mishap”.
He expressed the hope that the payment of such claims would encourage them to take their farming seriously with the understanding that in the event of anything, they would be cushioned.
The Interim Managing Director of Agricare, Mr Isaac Ferkah, thanked GAIP for the prompt payment of the claim, describing it as timely.
A beneficiary, Mr Ferkah, explained that his cover dealt with nucleus groups and had so far worked with 58 nucleus groups in the catchment area.
He said out of the 58 groups, 15 of them were affected and so the amount would be shared to those nucleus groups for distribution to the affected farmers.
