Fiji Crop and Livestock Council still working on insurance program for farmers

The Fiji Crop and Livestock Council is still working on an insurance program for farmers that can also cover against the three natural disasters that include cyclones, floods and drought.

Chairman of the Fiji Crop and Livestock Council Simon Cole says that a symposium has been delayed to March this year as the Food and Agriculture Organization is looking to identify more technical support to join this event.

He says that placing this product in the insurance market is very complex and requires the Council to have available sufficient data to convince the markets that their farmers’ risk is correct.

Cole adds that the Council is still working with Food and Agriculture Organization and government to have this work.

He says that by the end of this year Fiji Crop and Livestock Council should be able to have an insurance product for farmers in place.

Mandated by Government to represent the interests of non-sugar farmers in Fiji, the Fiji Crop and Livestock Council now has a membership of close to 30,000 farmers in Vanua Levu and Viti Levu.