Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on Sept 20, 2019 19:48:36 GMT 1
The Ondo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Adegboyega Adefarati, has urged farmers in Ondo State to register their farms with the state’s agricultural insurance scheme to prevent total loss of their properties and their farms against disasters.
Mr. Adegboyega gave this advice while touring locations affected by flood at Ogbese and Uso in Akure North and Owo Local Government Areas of the state.
He emphasised that farmers need to start taking proactive measures to ensure the safety of their farms against natural disasters.
“It has become imperative for our farmers to key into agricultural insurance scheme to avoid losses during any natural disaster that affects farms. It is very important that all farmers, whether assisted by donor agency or on their own as individuals take up the agriculture insurance policy.
“People will say, I have been doing rice farming here for over 10 years and this type of flooding has never happened. But one cannot actually say when this kind of disaster will happen and the insurance policy to cover for the losses is just a token, like 2.5 percent of the farmer’s total input in the rice farming.
“So, we will need to educate our farmers more on the need to foresee this type of natural disaster and prepare for it in advance,’’ he said.
The wide tour was carried out to check the extent of destruction done by the recent floods to the farmlands and the kind of assistance required to alleviate the farmers’ losses. The commissioner added that the damages incurred on the farms could affect farmers and the economic growth of the state if necessary actions were not put in place.
