2023-09-13 00:20:04
Representatives of Asaja in the provinces of the Ebro Valley have demanded Logronyo a guarantee that agricultural insurance covers farmers’ production costs when their farms are affected by inclement weather. This claim arises from the sharing of the problems experienced by the fruit sector in this area and which was highlighted in the last meeting between Asaja technicians and farmers in July in Zaragoza.
The general secretary of Arag-Asaja, Igor Fonseca, recalled that, in the face of increasingly frequent adverse weather events, such as hail, torrential rains or extreme heat, “agricultural insurance is more necessary than ever for all agricultural sectors and, especially the fruit industry”. Despite this, “it is necessary to work on improving the conditions of the same so that they respond to the needs and compensations of farmers“, he said in a note released by the agricultural organization.
In this sense, Asaja demands that agricultural insurance cover the entire harvest in the 2024 campaign, a demand that, as the president of Asaja Lleida, Pere Roque, has recalled, is far from being a reality. “Linsurance companies only allow you to take out a frost insurance policy for only 50% of the harvest until the month of February“, indicated Roque, who added that it is “as if a private individual was only allowed to insure half of his house”.
Foreign funds
Behind the big insurers, Roque assured, “there are foreign investment funds, which are only looking for the profitability of their product so that the big losers are the farmers”. That’s why, Asaja calls for a firmer and more involved position from the Ministry of Agriculture with insurance companiessince the scales of the policies are far below the production costs in breach of the Law of the Food Chain, their representatives have indicated in this meeting.
They agreed that “farmers don’t want subsidies, but solutions” for a fruit sector that lost the international market in 2022, due to severe frosts that reduced their production. “Our farmers are concerned about the functionality of agricultural insurance on their farms,” said UAGN Secretary General Luis Miguel Serrano.
He stressed that “we feel helpless in the face of inclement weather and our only weapon is insurance, but we see that, year after year, this weapon is collapsing.” “We ask the Ministry, Enesa and Agroseguro that listen to the voice of fruit growers in order to continue making agricultural insurance an essential tool“said Serrano.
Covers that fit
Faced with what they have called the “complicated situation faced by thousands of fruit farmers in the Vall de l’Ebre area, Asaja has claimed over the last few years a series of measures to alleviate the difficulties of the sector“, detailed the press release. Among them, they mentioned the possibility of setting up an insurance, which could be affordable for the farmer, with coverages that adapt to the majority of fruit farms, which can choose franchises and modalities in the damage that worries him the most.
They also request that, since the risk of frost can affect some species more than others, they can be done two policies with the different species, equating subsidies. A weather disaster can affect farms for years, which is why the agricultural organization proposes that the minimum period be increased to 10 years prior to the disaster in order to be able to calculate the insured production.
Asaja also suggests that it be the same expert who does all the assessments in an operation and that the last one is not carried out in full harvesting. He assures that the destination of stone-damaged fruit is the second-hand or scrap markets, where the remuneration is lower than the cost of production, so he asks to quantify an insurance where only damaged and healthy fruit can be selected.
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