Importance of Climate Index and Farming Insurance

"The government should take side with the farmers as farmers now are always the victims, be it a victim of the price game, climate or weather and pest attacks," said Dr. Rini Hidayati, Head of Department of Geophysics and Meteorology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of IPB in the evening Dialogue of RRI on Tuesday, October 4, 2011. "One of the most dominant factors in the farmers’ harvest failure is the climate because in recent years it is uncertain or extreme, that is, the dry season experiences severe droughts and in the wet season there is big flood, and farmers who are mostly ignorant about the climate become powerless to experience such a circumstance. The information coverage of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) on climate is only general in nature or global, thus not touching more specific aspects," he continued.

The participation of government in agriculture is necessary because in the current condition where the weather or climate is no longer friendly, the farmers should be insured so that in case of a crop failure, farmers do not experience losses to pay the bill because the government will take over the burden. In contrast, during the good harvest, farmers will enjoy the plant yield itself. Thus, farmers do not worry about crop failure if they get new things from the government because the farmers themselves will receive the claim.

It is the government aid and support to the farmers in the form of information and knowledge of climate index as well as agricultural insurance that the farmers need so that later the farmer will be much eager to grow crops because of no fear of losses, the crop yield will be abundant, the impact of commodity prices will be stable, people who need will have no difficulty to obtain the crop and globally the agriculture in Indonesia will be more fertile and will certainly create  a prosperous and wellbeing state with sufficient food and housing, not just a dream (Mtd)