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Stakeholders recently convened to explore ways insurance companies can make their policies more appealing to farmers, encouraging them to insure their farm products against natural disasters.
This gathering included representatives from the Niger State government, insurance firms specializing in agriculture, farmers, insurance sector experts, and international organizations, all focused on protecting farmers’ investments.
Dr. Ken Ukaoha, President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), highlighted the importance of farmers’ insurance in ensuring food security in his opening remarks at the workshop themed “Enhancing Agricultural Resilience through Farmer-Centric Insurance Products” held on Thursday in Minna.
The workshop aimed to improve farmers’ resilience and upscale productivity, incomes, and livelihoods in the rice, maize, soybean, cowpea, and vegetable value chains 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 hectares of land in each of the 25 local government areas. He noted that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s (NiMET) prediction of seasonal rainfall underscores the necessity for both the government and farmers to insure their crops.
“There are disasters such as floods, deforestation, climate change, droughts, and fire outbreaks that can impact farmlands. Only insurance will help farmers get back on their feet after such disasters,” Ukaoha stated.
“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, stressing that the State Government is investing about N50 billion in agriculture in wet season farming.
He said through the workshop, farmers will be sensitised on the importance of insurance and how it can benefit 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 smallholders farmers through access to credit and finance.
Also, the Chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Niger, Malam Idris Abini noted that its members benefited N16 million from an insurance firm in 2018 and 2019.
He promised to sensitise RIFAN members in the state on the importance of insurance, its benefits and the need to key in.