NAIC to unveil insurance policy to tackle farmers-herdsmen clashes

The Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) says it will unveil some insurance products to address the loss of agricultural investments due to farmers and herdsmen clashes across the country.

The Managing Director of NAIC, Mrs Folashade Joseph, said this at the sideline of a workshop titled `Accelerating Growth of Agriculture Insurance in Nigeria’ in Abuja on Sunday.

Joseph, who was represented by Mr Bashir Martins, NAIC Deputy General Manager, Technical, said the corporation was working on the revenue insurance, weather index insurance and livestock index insurance to match with the re-evolving agriculture trends.

“There are a lot of things that we have been thinking and working on because agriculture is re-evolving.

“As agriculture becomes our main attraction in the country, so many businesses will come along the line. So many lines of production, and of course, risks that we did not know as at yesterday will come up today.

“Product development is a continuous thing in NAIC, there were challenges in the past, there are challenges now.

“Herdsmen-farmers clashes is an issue that is with us and we are actually working on ways to address these challenges. It can be from the herdsmen angle or from the farmers’ angle,’’ she said.

The managing director said that the corporation had given coverage to agricultural projects worth N850 billion investments across the country since inception.

On losses and compensation, Joseph said that NAIC had also paid out about two billion naira as claims to farmers of various classes from inception to date.

She listed subsidised crops insurance, commercial crops insurance, subsidised livestock insurance, commercial livestock insurance, combined agricultural produce and investment policy and area yield index insurance as some products of NAIC.

Joseph expressed regrets over the low awareness of insurance products, adding that the corporation was educating farmers in various states to understand these agricultural insurance products.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and PULA, an insurance and technology company.