The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has prepared amendments to the federal law on state support in the field of agricultural insurance, which proposes to expand the list of natural phenomena, upon the occurrence of which insurance payments will be made to farmers. This is reported by "Izvestia" with reference to its own sources.
It is proposed to include prolonged rains during harvesting, as well as freezing of the upper soil layer and early establishment of snow cover in the list of indicated natural phenomena. Currently, the law only mentions situations such as drought, dry wind, frost, ice crust, flood, flood, flood, landslide, hail, waterlogged soil, hurricane wind, natural fire and mudflow.
The National Union of Agricultural Insurers of the Russian Federation takes part in the development of the bill. According to the president of the union, Korney Bizhdov, expanding the list of natural phenomena in which payments will be made will make the insurance system less accessible for farmers.
“The cost of insurance will increase and the availability of services will decrease. In addition, the risks proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture do not belong to the main ones. According to statistics for 2012–2016, the main risk for crops is the phenomena associated with a lack of moisture: droughts, dry winds. They accounted for about 70% of payments, ”said the expert.
At the same time, according to the vice-president of the Russian Grain Union, Alexander Korbut, the adjustments proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture are not related to current weather conditions and are “just one of the necessary changes in the law”.
“Of course, this is an important and necessary innovation. But it alone is not enough to change the existing insurance system for the better. It requires a more radical reform, since it does not meet the requirements of agricultural producers now. Currently there is no guarantee that you will receive payments, ”A. Korbut said.
Source: http://agroobzor.ru