REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA -- The Agriculture Ministry will provide Rp150 billion in subsidy for farmers to insure one million hectares of rice fields during the October 2015-March 2016 planting season.

"Farmers will only pay Rp36 thousand out of the Rp180 thousand worth of premium for every hectare of rice field during one planting season. They will receive insurance coverage worth Rp6 million for every hectare of failed or dried rice field," Secretary of the Directorate General of Infrastructures and Facilities of the Agriculture Ministry Abdul Madjid noted here on Monday night.

The subsidized insurance is in accordance with the implementation of the law on farmer protection. To implement the law, the agriculture minister has issued Regulation No. 40 of 2015 on agriculture insurance facilities.

Financing Director Mulyadi Hendiawan who accompanied Madjid remarked that the regulation was being processed at the Law and Human Rights Ministry. He expressed hope that it could be made public next week.

Hendiawan explained that the regulation dealt with insurance for cattle and plants comprising horticulture, plantation, and food crops.

He stated that the insurance premiums were divided into self-financed and subsidized premiums.

"The self-financed premiums include those paid by the farmers themselves, business partners, and the banks to which they apply for loans," he noted.

The subsidized premiums for rice field insurance were taken from the revised 2015 state budget. "The funds are being kept by the finance ministry, pending the issuance of the ministerial regulation. When the regulation is issued, the funds can be disbursed this year," he remarked.

The subsidized insurance program will mainly cater to the farmers in 16 provinces, which come under the special effort program, as the insurance company imposed several conditions including good rice field management, the use of certified seeds, and balanced fertilizing and pest control.

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