The Farmer Knows That Hail Hits the Same Places, Takes Away, and They Sow Wheat There: Pashinyan

The state program for experimental support for the introduction of an insurance system in the agricultural sector for 2024 has started this year later than scheduled. This was stated by the Minister of Economy of Armenia, Gevorg Papoyan, during today's government meeting. For this reason, the ministry is proposing to amend the program.

“In 2024, due to the agricultural market's exit of the re-insurance company, insurance companies could not fully assume the insurance risks, considering the high damage caused by climate change. Therefore, this year, the government will partially share the insurance risk in addition to the subsidy for the insurance premium. This means that it will support insurance companies in providing compensation when the compensation exceeds a certain threshold,” he announced.

The minister noted that the insured risks include hail, drought, and frost. Papoyan reported that in 2023, 11,662 hectares of land were insured, and the insurance premium amounted to about 1.8 billion drams, with approximately 3,864 insurance compensations provided, totaling around 2.7 billion drams.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan inquired about whether there had been any frost this year. “Why haven’t the lambs died yet? We had information that people knew that there was always hail in this specific area, and they go and sow wheat there,” he joked.

The Ministry of Economy's project was approved during the government meeting.