IT is gratifying to hear that the Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC) has paid out over K3 million in claims to farmers on the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) Lima Credit Scheme who suffered crop failure in 2014/2015 farming season.
Once again, this gesture underscores the importance of insuring life and property in an event where calamities befell unexpectedly.
Insurance is meant to bring back the insured in the place they were before the loss, nothing less nothing more or using a technical terminology known as indemnity.
In such instances, even though farmers may lose their yield and that even if maize may not be recovered, at least they stand a chance to recover their investment.
Insurance is an intangible product which is based on a promise by one party to the other to compensate them in an event of an unfortunate calamity.
We applaud this move taken by ZSIC as it will further encourage other farmers to consider insuring their crops for unforeseen disasters.
Yes, ZNFU is already happy that an increasing number of small-scale farmers have begun to appreciate the role of insurance in their farming.
The 2014/2015 farming season saw a lot of farmers both commercial and small-scale suffer crop failure brought about by drought that affected crop development.
ZNFU executive director Ndambo Ndambo said prolonged dry spells reduced the national maize crop by about 22 per cent to 2.6 million tons and severely affected the yields for the small-scale farmers.
Maize farming business is perhaps one of the most difficult, risky and complicated ventures as it takes into consideration cost of farming inputs and labour, therefore, insurance is inevitable.
Since farming is solely dependent on nature, one would be naïve to ignore the fact that anything could go wrong at any given time, and only insurance takes care of such concerns.
ZSIC general insurance limited managing director Charles Nakhoze yesterday disclosed that his company had paid K3, 042, 735.00 and the total claim payment was estimated at over K5 million after all affected farmers were inspected and evaluated.
We learn that more than 6,000 farmers would be bailed out in this exercise that has been phased in such a way that the company was settling claims according to completed batches submitted by ZNFU.
The importance of maize farming is valued by the fact that the exercise contributes to secure food basket in the country.
President Edgar Lungu recognised the importance of food security thus his recent recommendation that Food Reserve Agency (FRA) pays farmers more for a 50kg bag.
We now note that any incentive such as the new maize price is a motivating factor and goes a long way to encourage those in the industry to push ahead.
Farmers should rise to the occasion and make sure that enough maize is grown, not only for local consumption but for exports too, as a way of strengthening the Kwacha and secure forex.
Maize could be a big foreign exchange spinner for Zambia if its productivity is enhanced and given the rising demand for the grain by some countries in the region and beyond.
But such a critical part of human endeavour ought to be protected and  safeguarded this then sounds as a reminder for all farmers not to leave things to chance. Opinion