Development of farm insurance should be on the agenda of the Crisis Management Organization (CMO) “as an effective strategy to fight agricultural crises,” said Esmaeil Najjar, deputy minister of interior and head of CMO.
At a recent meeting to evaluate damage to farms in Tuyserkan county, Hamedan Province due to extreme cold, Najjar said, “Climate change has caused several problems including drought, lack of rainfall as well as unseasonable cold spells which have damaged the country’s farms.”
“At present, extreme drought is a major problem. In the current year, 520 cities as well as 7,000 villages are struggling with water shortage.”
Torrential rain and indiscriminate harvesting of underground water resources are among other causes of losses in the agricultural sector.
In order to compensate the damage to farmlands and gardens, two strategies - expansion of agricultural insurance and providing more amenities to farmers - have been considered.
He also suggested that parliament (Majlis) pass legislation to tackle unforeseen disasters in the agriculture sector.
The CMO is making all efforts to compensate farmers for their crop losses and to safeguard people’s livelihoods. Strategic planning is needed to prevent natural crises in the farm sector.
“As monocultures (large areas of land cultivated with a single crop) are more vulnerable to loss due to freezing climate and agricultural diseases, cultivation of different crops on farmland is recommended,” he said, adding that “by changing cropping patterns including multiple cropping, we can reduce negative effect of natural disasters.”
