Farmers are being encouraged to join the benefits schemes of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) as fear continues to loom surrounding the possible depletion of the funds at the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) in 12 years’ time.
On Tuesday BAS director Henderson Williams told Barbados TODAY that the association was working on an initiative to partner with an insurance broker to offer farmers pension and medical packages.
Admitting that a number of farmers did not make contributions to the NIS, Williams said that some self-employed people encountered challenges handling some of their business’ affairs and this was an opportunity to put a structured form of security in place in the event of an unforeseen circumstance.
“Some people do make contributions but I can’t tell you that the majority of them do . . .Most [insurance] policies go to organisations where they can plan and track so they can analyse how a plan performs and make necessary adjustments on that basis.
“If you have an individual plan it doesn’t give you the ability to do that so that is why we want the framework to come under the umbrella of the BAS,” he said. “We are in the process of getting that done, it will obviously take a little while because when you request certain information some people are not always forthcoming. We are trying to get that together but it will become a reality.”
Williams said that about 50 farmers across the board had expressed interest in the initiative but he wanted more to get involved.
He said that an increase in demand coupled with the provision of the required personal information would give an indication of how the benefit plans would work and what the premiums would look like.
“The benefit of having a contribution is that it works as a safety net when you get old or when you get sick but the reality of it is that unless you have a structure in place to make them [the contributions] it is challenging. It can be challenging because you are the person who has to manage that component of your business whereas in an organisation, there are people designated to deal with those matters on your behalf in the finance department and make the deductions for you.
“So it is the complexities and challenges of getting it done especially when you are in a cash-strapped position, when you go and take out a contribution you don’t immediately benefit from it. Sometimes you are in a position where you are faced with big receivables and people owe you and don’t pay on time. Sometimes it is an issue where they (self-employed) people do not fit into the standard employment arrangement and they have to weigh the pros and cons of a particular benefit whereby in an organisation it is almost mandatory.”
The director added that as an organisation, the BAS would be “stronger as a group”, have more structure and would be able to guide the farmers on the best premium to meet their needs.
(SZB)
