The Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) and the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) have agree to adopt an intervention synergy towards sensitizing and equipping farmers to adopt modern management practices towards improving their yield and reduce the effects of natural disasters.

Speaking during an interactive forum with AFAN officials in Abuja recently, NAIC executive director finance and administration, Amb. Bappa Lawal Toro said that farmers in the country need to be adequately educated on how to minimize their losses in the event of floods, droughts and pest infection. He enjoined AFAN to partner with NAIC with a view –to ensuring that farmers across the country take insurance covers on their farms as a measure against devastation by natural disaster.

Ambassador Toro explained that NAIC statutory mandate is to indemnify only farmers who insured their farmers who insured their farms with the corporation, adding that it is not duty of NAIC to compensate or offer relief to farmers who never insured with it.

Speaking earlier, the Acting National President of AFAN and director on NAIC Board, Chief Femi Coker lauded the efforts of the corporation for its prompt payments of claims to all insured farmers, saying AFAN was exploring more areas of collaboration with NAIC, which he called “a friend of AFAN”.

Chief Coker lamented over the spate of floods and the devastation of farmlands across the country and welcomed the NAIC initiatives to organize sensitization campaigns and agricultural extension services in collaboration with the AFAN with the view to boosting productivity in the agric sector.
He agreed that NAIC is not a charitable organization, “farmers should not expect to reap where they have not sowed at all”.

Chief Coker further explained that it is the responsibility of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as well as those in-charge of the Ecological Fund to monitor and offer free relief measures to all victims of natural disaster in the country.

He expressed fears that food security will be threatened except a workable intervention synergy is worked out by all stakeholders in the agric-allied business.