27 farmers to receive bad weather insurance payout

Twenty-seven farmers who were insured under the GK Insurance Weather Protect Scheme and impacted by the recent heavy rains are set to receive payouts.

Minister of Agriculture, Floyd Green, made the disclosure during a statement to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

He informed that the farmers, who are from Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth, took advantage of the Government's incentive regime and signed up for the basic coverage that was being provided.

“The total payout amounts to $675,000 and what it means for those farmers is, without any reference to the Ministry, they will have resources to rebound from the most recent weather event. This is a step in the right direction,” Green said.

“What we need is more farmers to sign up, and as such, the Ministry has been exploring strategies that we will embark on in the next financial year to get more farmers onboard,” he added.

He noted that the Ministry continues to encourage other insurance providers to get involved “so we can provide options for our farmers to protect their agricultural enterprise”.

Two years ago, the Government called on insurance companies to work with the Ministry to craft an appropriate insurance scheme to provide coverage for farmers from extreme weather events.

Green said that only one company answered the call at the time, GK Insurance, which provided GK Weather Protect, a parametric scheme that covers extreme wind, rain, and periods of drought.

“The way the scheme is structured is that farmers can decide the amount of coverage they want, which is aligned to the premium they pay and there is no assessment of damage… as once the threshold is reached for the weather event, the payment is automatic,” the agriculture minister explained.

- JIS News

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