We Aim To Boost Economy Through Agriculture – NAIC Boss
Mrs. Folashade Joseph, NAIC boss
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Mrs. Folashade Joseph, has said that the aim of NAIC, among other things, is to boost the nation’s economy through agriculture.
She said agricultural insurance is to complement the efforts of the Federal Government on financial inclusion thereby making farmers happy and comfortable.
Joseph, who disclosed these to Nigerian Journalists at the just concluded 46th African Insurance Organisation (AIO) Annual Conference and General Assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa, noted that while the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is providing soft agricultural loans to farmers. NAIC is complementing this effort by insuring these farmers, in a bid to incorporate them in the financial system.
“We aim to boost the economy through agriculture. Agriculture has contributed much to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last few years, she said.
According to her, “On the part of NAIC, 80 per cent of farmers are engaging in small scale farming. And it is very important to take care of these farmers against risks that may arise from farming. The farmers are financially included because they access loans. Though federal government has done a lot through CBN in this regards, it is our role to support this process and make farmers happy and comfortable.”
To increase the number of agricultural insurance policyholders, she said, her corporation had, and is still embarking on sensitisation of farmers across the country on the need to protect their farmlands, and equipments through agric insurance products offered by NAIC.
Financial inclusion, she said, ensures that more people, especially, those in the informal sector of the economy, are brought into the financial system, to aid proper economic planning, enhance savings culture and increase loanble funds in the banking sector, which contributes to the healthiness of the entire financial sector value-chain.
She stated that agriculture contribute more to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), adding that her Corporation was specifically created to cater for the entire agricultural value-chain, of which farmers are major.
Listing the barriers of insurance penetration which is also affecting adoption of agric insurance products, she said, culture, religious beliefs are challenges as the small hold farmers do believe everything is an act of God.
“The culture, the religious beliefs are challenges as the small hold farmers do believe everything are an act of God. But with increased senstitisation, trainings and awareness we are giving, things are improving . With the sensitisation of farmers which we do periodically, they are gradually appreciating the value of insurance. My advice for farmers is to embrace insurance to protect the future,” she posited.
She said NAIC has paid N464 million claims in the first quarter of 2019 to its insured farmers across the country, noting that prompt payment of claims has always been the cardinal principle of NAIC.
“As a responsible player in agric insurance space we, at NAIC, believe prompt payment of claims is the ultimate goal of any insurance business,” she said.
Mrs. Joseph stressed that the Corporation provides insurance cover to all categories of operators, whether small; medium or large scale across the agricultural value chain.
NAIC was established by the Federal Government to shield farmers from the adverse effects of natural disasters.
