Pilot project  worth 10 million euros will be implemented in Armenian agriculture

ArmInfo. To implement three-year "pilot" agro-insurance program, 10 million euros will be allocated, out of which 5 million euros will be provided by the German development bank KFW, 5 million by the Armenian Government. Answering the question of ArmInfo, Armenian Minister of Agriculture Ignatiy stated on July 10 at a meeting with journalists According to Araqelyan, three-year pilot agro-insurance program will start in 2018. To create a working system, it is necessary to identify the most important tasks, and first of all in the legislative plan. "As of today, there are no registered farms in Armenia and no one knows who and how we will insure, farmers need to be brought into the legal field, which will take a lot of time," he stressed. Soon, as the minister said, the visit of expert from KFW is expected and by the end of the year there will be defined both the sphere and the region where the project will be tested.

According to Agriculture Minister, agriculture in Armenia is risky, as elsewhere. "Damage to agriculture from natural and climatic conditions in Armenia is estimated at less than 5% or 32 billion AMD out of 900 billion," he said. At the same time, despite the fact that the implementation of the pilot program is not far off for the time being, there are no local insurance companies interested in participation. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture is sure that this is the case when the issue of correct presentation is very important and in case of its profitable demonstration it is possible to interest the local insurer, with the appropriate state support in terms of insurance payments and the possibility of further reinsurance of risks from foreign companies. "According to our calculations, agricultural insurance in Armenia will work. Maximum in three years the system will be implemented in the country," he said.

At the same time, according to the Minister of Agriculture, in  case of  successful implementation of the pilot, the program promises to be multi-risk, providing the largest percentage of the total premium and covering losses to agricultural crops, all types of natural disasters, including hail, drought and floods.

What is to the early experience in the direction of implementing agro insurance in Armenia, or more precisely spent financial resources KfW 400 thousand euros previously allocated by the bank for the development of the concept of agricultural insurance for Armenia and Georgia, then, according to the minister, that work can be assessed positively and as a mini-pilot, the same as a real pilot.