FCCISL- CHEER brings relief to flood hit famers in the East

Settlement of cultivation loans by the insurers in the FCCISL-CHEER Project facilitated cultivation efforts in the Eastern province has brought in much relief to the farmers who were affected by the recent floods.

CHEER Project facilitated cultivation loans to the value of Rs.18.9 Million for 386 farmer households to cultivate 1741 hectares of maize, paddy and other field crops during the last Maha season. Majority of the crop was affected by the recent floods and settlement of bank loans through the insurance cover under this facilitation availed the famers of new loans facilities for cultivation in the forthcoming yala season.

Ceylinco Insurance Company and Agriculture Insurance Board (AIB) were the main insurers and the bankers confirmed that the Ceylinco Insurance has fully settled the claims and AIB has already completed necessary assessments of the damage and is in the process of settling the claims shortly.

FCCISL CHEER is one of the national implementing partners of OXFAM GB in the EU – ACAP 2009/2013 Project (European Union Assistance for Conflict Affected People).  It works in association with the district Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar and many local implementing partners of OXFAM. This facilitation is to contribute towards one of the key result areas of the EU ACAP Project  where the capacity of women and men of IDP families is built to pursue their choice of economic activities to significantly improve their household income and food security.

One of the important features of the facilitation was the buyback arrangement of all crops made with leading private sector organisation. Though over 90% of the crop was completely destroyed by the floods the remaining crops fetched higher price than the original farm gate price agreed upon with the companies. These farmer households from the rural communities in the province did not have any links to formal financial services providers and have valued the importance of Insurance for cultivation purposes, until CHEER intervened.   

Hatton National Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Peoples Bank and Commercial Bank were the leading providers of cultivating loans in the Eastern Province and have been supporting the CHEER effort of facilitating buy back arrangements and insurance coverage. “Your effort has helped us tremendously and the farmers seem to now begun believing in insurance and we have enjoyed a good recovery rate despite floods” a senior officer of a bank said. He added that this type of facilitation brings in fair play and a win-win situation for every stakeholder eliminating unnecessary interventions by parties with vested interests.  

CHEER Project operates through Oxfam’s regional partner network consisting of Federation of Social Development Organisation (FOSDO), Social Welfare Organisation Ampara District (SWOAD), National Gender and Community Development Organisation (NGACDO), Eastern Self Reliant Community Awakening Organisation (ESCO), Social Economic Development Organisation of Trincomalee (SEDOT) and , Sarvodaya

(District Offices) which handle mobilisation of the farmers.

CHEER plans to facilitate over 10,000 acres in maize, paddy and other field crops this Yala season and most of the ground work in the facilitation process is completed.