Kole North : MP Dr. Opio Acuti Launches 360m Ugx crop insurance payment to farmers

Kole, Uganda: The MP for Kole North,Dr Samuel Opio Acuti On 7th March 2024 , presided over the launch of payment for crop insurance to more than 1,000 farmers in Kole North drawn from Alito, Aboke and Okwerodot Sub-counties and Town Councils.

The payments were by Agroconsortium, an insurance entity that is in a public private partnership with government of Uganda represented by Ministry of Finance to offer crop insurance services under the Uganda Agricultural Insurance Scheme.

The launch took place at Alito Town Council Headquarters, Kole North where more than 1,000 residents gathered to witness this historic moment.

Most of the farmers had poor yields due to drought and excessive rainfall after planting Soya,Simsim, groundnuts,water melon and other vegetables. A total payment of 360m Ugx was made.Some farmers paid insurance premiums as low as 10,000 Ugx but received compensation of upto 400,000 Ugx.

'I Introduced this programme after receiving complaints from farmers about losses made during the rainy season due to excessive sunshine". says the Kole North MP.

" On consultation I discovered that there was a crop insurance programme that had been running for almost 5 years supported by Ministry of Finance but there was little awareness about it In Lango". he further adds.

'It is upon this that I mobilised the community and was able to bring on board 1,000 farmers into this programme.This programme will help farmers mitigate some of the effects of climate change,' he concludes.

Several farmers extended their appreciation to their MP for bringing this revolutionary programme .

A one Rebecca Akello, from Oribcing group says she paid a premium of 30,000 Ugx for her Soya which was affected by heavy sunshine.She received a payment of 532,000 Ugx .Dr Samuel Opio Acuti hopes to have 5,000 farmers enrolled into the scheme in the next two years.