MAFAR, UN-FAO meets to discuss Agriculture Insurance Diagnostic Study

COTABATO CITY- Food and Agriculture of the United Nations Mr. Niclas Benni, FAO Rural Finance and Investment Specialist, met with Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform Mohammad S. Yacob, Ph.D., on October 26.

During the meeting, Mr. Benni discussed that the UN-FAO, through the Joint Programme on Risk Informed Shock Responsive Social Protection in BARMM, is undertaking an Agriculture Insurance Diagnostic Study to determine options for providing social insurance services to farmers and fishers in the Bangsamoro.

He said that this initiative is part of the scaling-up work funded by the Government of Australia that aims to enhance the provision of adequate social protection and humanitarian cash transfers through improvements in systems, expansion of coverage, and introduction of other forms of social protection interventions and other safety nets to the rural population in BARMM.

The diagnostic study strives to explore the applicability of agriculture insurance as a component for shock-responsive social protection that will provide low-income farming households in BARMM with an adequate level of protection against natural hazards such as droughts, floods, pests and disease, and the like.

Meanwhile, Minister Yacob said, “FAO have been our partner in surging strategies to assist our farmers, fisherfolk, and agrarian reform beneficiaries. We are grateful for all the technical and financial support.”

“I appreciate that FAO is focused on helping out the beneficiaries from the region, especially those located in the flood-prone area, to rise again from their problem,” Minister Yacob stressed.

Minister Yacob and Mr. Benni exchanged a conversations focusing on the study of Agriculture Insurance Diagnostic that is applicable in the BARMM.