09:10, 19 July 2022
YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. The number of people signing up for the state support program for the implementation of the pilot program of introducing insurance system in the agricultural area that is being implemented in Armenia for already three years is growing every year.
5091 insurance contracts for around 6444 hectares are already sold as of mid-July.
The most insured crop is grain.
The Ministry of Economy’s Head of the Department of Agro Project Development, Resource Utilization and Cooperative Development Ira Panosyan said that agricultural insurance is one of the most important programs among the support programs of the area.
“We were waiting for its inception for many years but it wasn’t succeeding. But in 2019, the government adopted a decision to approve the pilot program and it was launched in 2020,” Panosyan said, stating that the results, number of signed contracts and covered hectares are growing every year.
As this is a new culture in the sector, officials are doing everything they can for the product to be established to have a main insurance program in the future.
“In all countries this program is aimed at managing the risks in the agricultural area and stabilizing the incomes of farmers, in our case also. And this is very important for further development of agriculture,” Panosyan said.
The program began by offering insurance only for two crops, but today farmers can insure around 13 types of crops, such as apricot, grape, wheat, potato, apple etc.
Moreover, farmers were initially enabled to insure their crop only from hailstorms, fires and springtime freeze, but now drought can also be covered.
Jointly with KfW the government is subsidizing up to 60% of the insurance payment: the volume of subsidy of the insurance sum varies depending from the risk.
The program is expected to extend the insurance coverage instead of the current coverage of the crop expenses with around 20% extra. In most cases the insurance money will include the entire crop insurance volume.
In 2020, only over 1500 insurance contracts were sold for 2345 hectares, in 2021 over 4300 contracts for 1500 hectares, and in 2022 the number is already 5091 for around 6444 hectares.
The top insured crop is grain, Panosyan said. Grain is followed by apricot, potato and grape respectively.
Most insurances were sold in Lori province, but Shirak province is first by insured hectares.
Three insurance firms – Rosgostrakh-Armenia, Sil-Insurance and Ingo Armenia are participating in the program.
Farmer Mikayel Petrosyan insured 5 hectares of apricot gardens in the village of Shenavan in Armavir from risks of hailstorm and springtime freeze.
In the past, there were times when Petrosyan lost the entire harvest due to hailstorms and didn’t receive any compensation. But now, he feels more confident. “This insurance, albeit not 100%, is covering at least my expenses,” he said, adding that the government is subsidizing 60% of the insurance payment.
Anna Grigoryan