The AFA elaborates that, to help farmers achieve a stable income through risk diversification, the farmers who run their operation legally can have one half of the insurance premium funded by the COA. Taitung County Government in addition contributes another 5% of the premium. As an illustration, for someone who buys the insurance at NTD 52,300/hectare, NTD 26,150 will be paid by the COA and NTD 2,615 by Taitung County Government, and the farmer only have to cover the rest of the cost, NTD 23,535.
The AFA indicates that Typhoon Nepartak last year (2016) inflicted severe damages on the growing regions of sugar apples. According to the official statistics, a total of 4,500 hectares of sugar apple fields was destroyed, with the monetary loss reaching NTD 0.5 billion. The income insurance for sugar apples is thus implemented to cope with this exacerbating loss in the future. The major feature of this scheme, comparing to conventional natural disaster insurance, is that insured farmers will be compensated the difference below the official published income level for sugar apple production.
If the farmers do also suffer from natural disasters, they may still claim the disaster cash relief with the subsidized premium amount deducted, which means that farmers that participate in the insurance program in effect receive two layers of backing. The AFA also has prepared a comprehensive flyer containing all the relevant regulations and sample cases of insurance claims. For farmers who wish to get a better handle on this subject, please request related material from the insurance departments of your local farmers’ associations, or directly check on the AFA website.