Cooperatives shun joining agricultural insurance

GULU – Cooperators under West Acholi Cooperative Union, covering Gulu, Omoro, Amuru, Nwoya districts, and Gulu City, have shunned joining agricultural insurance, according to officials.

In the financial year, 2016/2017, the agricultural insurance scheme was introduced to protect farmers from risks associated with losses arising from natural disasters like drought and others.

The scheme provides insurance cover for crops and livestock, for both small and large-scale farmers.

According to the Chairperson West Acholi Cooperative Union Bob Ogen, the cooperators are reluctant to take up the insurance policy because they think that nothing will happen to their enterprises.

“In West Acholi, we are only at 30 percent of the members who have been  able to join the insurance  scheme yet many of them this first season have been affected by the harsh weather,’’ he said

According to Ogen, there is need to have mass sensitisation among the farming community on the benefits of joining farming insurance, he advised.

“The rains came in late and as we talk now, complaints have started already reaching us on the losses the cooperators have made in this first season, but we cannot help them much unless when the members join the insurance cover. The insurance covers 90 percent, but still, they are not looking at that,’’ he said

The cooperatives see no reason to insure their businesses, especially since the business is complicated and not common in the country, said Joel Mugasi Ogik, one of the farmers with Nwoya Rice and Cassava cooperative.

“When no loss is incurred the benefits get back to the insurance body and one has to ensure the next season, that is why they are relaxed to join,” he added.

However, Jemimah Laguti, who is under the insurance cover says, there is need to have massive mobilisation of the cooperators to join the agricultural insurance since many have taken farming as their source of income for life.

As the weather has become unpredictable, farmers have been advised to join the crop insurance so that they are covered in case of poor harvests.

Uganda’s sector is highly exposed to co-variant risks, which include weather, biological, infrastructure [post-harvest loss], price, and market risks. These risks make investing in the sector unattractive.

Despite the sector’s contribution to the economy, farmers’ access to finance remains a major constraint.

To manage the financial impacts of production shocks, government decided to use agricultural insurance to derisk rural lending and expand access to rural credit for smallholders.

And in partnership with private insurance companies, the government launched the Uganda Agriculture Insurance Scheme [UAIS] as a five-year pilot in July 2016.

The objectives of the scheme are to ensure that Ugandan farmers are protected against the effects of agriculture risks, especially production risks; to increase farmers’ access to credit; and to make crops, livestock, and aquaculture insurance affordable to smallholder producers.

The UAIS offers a range of crop, livestock, poultry, and aquaculture insurance coverage to Ugandan farmers, and is promoted by the government through the provision of premium subsidies.

https://thecooperator.news/gulu-cooperatives-lose-millions-of-shillings-to-fake-agricultural-deals/

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