The Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) here has urged livestock raisers who have not yet availed of the government’s insurance program to get coverage for their animals.

In an interview on Friday, municipal agriculturist Rexfort Famisaran said uninsured raisers of hogs, cows and goats, as well as crop farmers and fishermen, can still apply for free insurance coverage from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

He said the program targets those involved in backyard animal growing, and small-scale farming and fishing operations.

Famisaran said the local government unit (LGU) pays for the insurance premiums to cover the livestock, crops and even fishing boats of qualified agriculture sector workers.

“There is heightened interest among backyard piggery owners to get insured because of outbreaks of ASF (African swine fever) in other places. Here (Odiongan town), we have had several hog deaths, but subsequent tests showed that they were negative for ASF. But the owners are qualified for indemnity just the same, even if the animals died of other causes,” he said in Filipino.

Odiongan’s MAO facilitated PCIC insurance coverage for 729 backyard hog raisers as a proactive measure against a possible ASF outbreak, he added.

Earlier this month, two towns in Romblon’s Sibuyan Island –Cajidiocan and San Fernando– were put under states of calamity due to ASF outbreaks.

Meanwhile, 10 farmers and fishermen from Odiongan received indemnity checks in varying amounts from the PCIC on Oct. 16.

Lucille Cristo, focal person of PCIC Romblon, said the payments, with a total amount of almost PHP75,000, were intended to compensate for rice crops and fishing boats that were damaged or destroyed due to different reasons. (PNA)