The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, has urged government to embark on an aggressive nationwide campaign to educate farmers on agricultural insurance, describing it as the most effective safeguard against climate shocks, bushfires, and disease outbreaks.
According to him, while insurance companies already operate agricultural pool policies, the majority of farmers remain unaware of their existence, leaving them exposed to repeated losses.
“Farmers continue to lose their hard-earned investments to floods, droughts, and outbreaks simply because they are not aware these policies exist,” Dr. Agyemang said in an interview on Adom News.
He stressed that farmer associations—including peasant, cocoa, pig, and fish farmer groups—must be the primary targets of this education drive to ensure widespread uptake of insurance schemes.
The MP, who is also an insurance expert, criticized successive governments for failing to prioritize insurance education for farmers, insisting that huge sums spent on emergency relief could have been avoided if farmers had subscribed to insurance.
Citing recent crises, he explained, “If farmers knew and took covers for their farms, government wouldn’t have taken huge monies to support them. Insurance would have done that.”
Dr. Agyemang called on government to lead by example, starting with cocoa farmers, whose crop remains the backbone of the national economy. He warned that ignoring insurance sensitization risks exposing farmers to devastating losses similar to past disasters.
“Education on insuring farms must be effective from now. Government must lead the charge by encouraging farmers to take insurance covers to safeguard their farms,” he concluded.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
