Government to Study Feasibility of Extending Crop Insurance to More Farmers

In a parliamentary session, Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin announced that the government will conduct a comprehensive study before broadening the crop insurance scheme to other crops. He highlighted challenges including who will bear premium costs and how damages will be measured, noting that the original scheme covered premiums for rice farmers. The Paddy Crop Takaful Scheme, introduced in 2024, has already paid out RM24.6 million to 10,726 paddy farmers for natural-disaster losses.

Chan said the Ministry, through MARDI, is also advancing climate-adaptation research and promoting technologies such as drought-tolerant rice varieties and smart irrigation systems. Any expansion will consider extreme-weather events and the level of losses that can be insured.