Potato farmers partner NAIC on crops, life insurance


Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN) says it is partnering with the Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) to establish an insurance cover for its members across the country.
Chief Daniel Okafor, the National President of the association spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.
According to him, the insurance will cover both agricultural produce and lives of its members.
Okafor said that the initiative was as a result of losses recorded by some members of the association, especially during natural disasters like floods.
He said the insurance was necessary following the commencement of the rainy season.
“We are trying to provide all potato farmers with insurance cover.
“NAIC is working with us in the process to achieve this.

“Some of our farmers have died while some lost their produce. The insurance is what we are discussing now.
“The insurance policy will also cover the lives and the agricultural produce of our farmers to ensure they are compensated in the event of flood,’’ he said.
The national president said the association was also supporting its members with soft loans to enable them improve production during the wet season farming.
According to him, we have shared them into cooperatives, given them loans and also off-take whatever they produce.

“We give them about N150, 000 to farm one hectare of potato.
“What they usually get after the harvest will be about N400, 000 when they harvest. We then collect the capital from there and share the profit.

“This is just to encourage our members to do more, especially for farmers that do not have raw cash at hand,’’ Okafor said.

He appealed to the Federal Government to urgently commence the distribution of farm inputs to farmers across the country to enable them prepare for the wet season farming.

The national president expressed regret over the current hike in prices of food items, adding that the prompt distribution of farm inputs would encourage bumper harvest and food security in the country.


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