KARACHI:
A proper system of crop insurance must be introduced in Pakistan to strengthen the agriculture sector and eradicate the possible threat of food insecurity caused by natural disasters, according to speakers at a seminar on Tuesday.
Addressing a conference titled “Issues and Challenges in Crop Insurance in Pakistan”, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture President Syed Nadeem Qamar Shah said, “Real crop insurance does not exist in Pakistan; farmers are given credit insurance instead.”
Shah said that bankers are reluctant to offer crop insurance to rural growers, and only provided agricultural crop insurance loans to a few land owners who owned sugar mills – who, according to him, were not genuine farmers.
Shah believes crop insurance is necessary because upper Sindh cotton crops pose high risk of diseases and viruses which can be detrimental to those involved in the sector.
According to Shah, agricultural yields in the country could go up by 25 per cent if people would try new and improved methods – that will only be possible if they are insured. The main hindrance in crop insurance lies in insurance companies not being able to assess crop damage, as they do not trust estimates provided by farmers, he added.
Speakers suggested that a public subsidy programme was required to encourage companies to provide agricultural insurance. Agriculture experts believed that the role of the federal and provincial governments in financing catastrophic risks in the agricultural sector should be clarified.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2011.
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