Life insurance for farmers

The responsibility of farmers is becoming crucial as the world population is growing rapidly while arable land available for food production is declining.

The world population has passed the 7 billion mark last year and in the next 30 years it will increase to 9 billion.

Although the world population has increased, food production is not growing at the same rate to cater to the increasing demand and this is the cause for the food crisis we are talking at global level today, said CEO of CIC Agri Business (CICAB) Kirthi Kotagama.

Kotagama was addressing the media at the launch of a life insurance policy for out-grower farmers of CICAB. The new farmer insurance policy was launched by Aviva NDB.Kotagama said that around the world, about 25,000 persons die every day in hunger. According to FAO estimates, to cater to the increasing demand, global food production should increase by 70 percent within the next 30 years. This is a challenge and the agricultural sector needs more investment.

On the other hand, food production is declining due to resources shifting to produce biofuel. Asia will account for 80 percent of world population growth, while food production in the region will increase only by 51 percent within the next 30 years, according to estimates.

In this scenario, the role of the farmer is important and farming is now a well- recognised and respectable proffession. Today, in Sri Lanka, a single farmer feeds eight people. Sri Lanka is self-sufficient in rice and in the next phase we have to get ready to export our excess production.

For that we have to improve the quality of our agro products. Sri Lanka has resources to develop the agricultural sector. Over 30 percent of our labour force are in the agriculture sector. The rural population is around 70 percent and of them 90 percent is engaged in agriculture. The agricultural sector's contribution to the GDP is around 12 percent and there is room for , Kotagama said.

Recognising the potential in the agriculture sector as well as the challenges, CICAB has launched various programs to attract young people into the sector. “We have launched various programs to attract educated young people into agriculture by changing their attitude. Agriculture is a lucrative venture and some of our young farmers earn over Rs.500,000 per month”, he said.

Our focus is to increase productivity and reduce the cost of production. Development in the agricultural sector can increase the income of the rural people and improve their living standard.

There are over 20,000 farmers partnered with CICAB and they produce seed paddy and agro products for the local and export markets.

The company provides input and knowledge on modern farming methods and monitors cultivation. “We also mediate with lending agencies to arrange credit facilities to out growers. We have forward sales agreement with farmers and the farmers get a higher price. We use participatory out grower model. CICAB develops new crop varieties and they are tested in our farms before distributed to the farmers,” he said.

The objectives of the new life insurance scheme are further improved, the perception of society regarding farmers and agriculture.

The insurance policy includes life cover, funeral expenses and hospital cash. The monthly contribution from a farmer is Rs.100 and 1000 farmers are insured in the first phase.