THE decentralisation of agricultural insurance will allow many firms with the wherewithal to offer their products in the area, Managing Director, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Mr Wale Onaolapo, has said.
During an interview, he said his company would be interested in anything that could contribute to the growth of the industry.
He said through decentralisation of the insurance scheme, farmers would have better prices to choose from.
At present, agriculture insurance cover to farmers is provided by the Nigerian Agriculture Insurance Corporation (NAIC).
Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel said NAIC has enjoyed the support of the Federal Government as it has been subsidising some insurance to encourage farmers to get cover.
However, to make the insurance more available for farmers, he said agriculture insurance was being deregulated to make more insurance firms to participate in the subsector.
Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr Sunday Thomas, said though farmers have a lot to gain from insurance, many of them lack awareness and are poorly funded.
He noted that Nigeria can have a vibrant agriculture industry, adding, however, that the reverse was the case.
According to him, considering the opportunities available in the sector, it could have been the mainstay of the nation’s economy by providing wealth and creating employment for the people.
Thomas noted that farmers were faced with numerous challenges that were hindering their ability to produce in large quantities. Some of the challenges include poor funding, inadequate storage facilities, climatic factors as well as infrastructural deficiencies, among others, he said.
President, Risk Surveyors Association of Nigeria (RISAN), Mr Jacob Adeosun, said if the government is serious about insurance awareness and penetration, Nigerians should be encouraged to embrace insurance as a way to avert disasters.
He said diverting money meant for other development projects and begging people in the name of seeking donations is not a sustainable way of helping the society. Besides, he said most of the donations end up in wrong hands because of the corruption.
He said over the years, local farmers had continued to encounter challenges in production, a factor that had been militating against their ability to produce in large quantities and become export oriented.
According to him, insurance can cover food crops of different categories, adding that crops could be insured against so many disasters, such as flood, drought, pest, disease and others, goods in transit could be insured against losses or damages.
Managing Director, Continental Reinsurance Plc, Dr Femi Oyetunji said NAIC is the firm that insures agriculture in the country, but noted that since NAICOM was regulating insurance, there was the need to ensure capacity build for more local insurance firms to provide this kind of cover. ”With a population of over 160 million agriculture is very important to us as it is a major focus of the government. So, the ability of the government to achieve its aim in agriculture depends on the ability to provide the right type of insurance to the farmers and even to the suppliers of farm equipment”, he said.
Meanwhile, NAIC has assured farmers whose farmlands were destroyed by the flood that they would be compensated.
While sympathising with the victims of the disaster, NAIC’s Acting Managing Director, Dr Tijani Garuba, advised them to take advantage of the corporation’s services to mitigate their losses, adding that the Federal Government established NAIC to provide succour and extension services to farmers who insure with the corporation.
