KKP Prepares Insurance For Small Fish Cultivators

Illustration. (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has prepared insurance for small fish cultivators in order to overcome the impact of severe flooding due to increased rainfall in a number of locations in recent times.

Director General of Aquaculture, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), Slamet Soebjakto said the high rainfall could also have an impact on fish farming activities in various regions in Indonesia.

"We can analyze the trend of the events in the last five years, that the fact is that many farming businesses have been affected by flooding and the value of losses is large. Moreover, based on BMKG data trends, current rainfall is the highest in the last 150 years. Of course, we do not expect this incident to be repeated However, we need to encourage anticipatory steps, "said Slamet in Jakarta, Wednesday, January 8.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries also reminded that according to data, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicted that extreme weather would continue for the next few weeks. Therefore, Slamet appealed to all cultivation business actors to prepare mitigation efforts from an early age.

For areas that are prone to flooding, he hopes to make various efforts to minimize the impact of economic losses, for example by early harvesting of cultivated fish species.

KKP, he continued, will also facilitate the realization of insurance for affected small fish cultivators, as an effort to help alleviate the impact of economic losses due to natural disasters.

"This is intended for small fish cultivators who are affected by disasters such as floods, landslides and others. Therefore, I appeal to the relevant agencies to immediately record the cultivators who have experienced production failure due to disasters. Later, send the data to us so that they can be followed up immediately," he explained.

Slamet added that insurance for these small fish cultivators has expanded the range of objects. If initially it was only intended for shrimp farming, now it is being expanded to other fish farming businesses such as milkfish, catfish and other fresh fish cultivation.

"We know that cultivators other than shrimp are still dominated by small fish cultivators. On the other hand, these small fish cultivators find it difficult to get up after losses due to production failures. Therefore, this insurance is expected to minimize the impact of economic losses and stimulate the re-operation of cultivation. "he said.

Data compiled by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, until 2019 assistance in the payment of fisheries insurance premiums for small fish cultivators, amounted to IDR 7.3 billion to cover a cultivated land area of 20,837.44 hectares with a total of 15,026 cultivators.

Meanwhile, in 2020, the insurance realization target could cover 5,000 hectares of new cultivation business land, so that more fish cultivators can benefit from insurance. The budget for insurance premium payment assistance is IDR 3 billion.

The maximum coverage value for shrimp / polyculture commodities is IDR 7.5 million per hectare / year, catfish per year is IDR 3 million per 250 m2, fresh tilapia and catfish the maximum coverage is IDR 4.5 million per 200 square meters / year. As for brackish indigo, the maximum insured value is IDR 5 million / hectare / year. Another commodity, namely milkfish, has a maximum coverage of IDR 3 million / hectare per year.