OREANDA-NEWS. February 02, 2010. According to the tentative data, in 2009 Ingosstrakh has paid to the national agricultural producers over 135 million rubles (about 70% increase as compared to 2008), and reserved another 154 million rubles for claims in respect of losses occurred in 2009, which will be paid out this year.

The main causes of the insured events occurred were hazardous agro-meteorological phenomena like drought, hail, winterkill or frost. The largest payment related to drought was in the Irkutsk Region where Ingosstrakh has paid out more than 18.9 million rubles to Primorsky ACJSC, whose spring wheat crops were partially damaged by drought.

In the Volgograd Region, Mr. M. Khanbakhadov's farm, which also suffered from drought, received 12.7 million rubles, and Progress CJSC received 7.5 million rubles. In the Samara Region, Luch Agricultural Production Co-operative Farm and Progress LLC were indemnified for 7.2 and 5.3 million rubles respectively, while the payment to a collective farm in the Stavropol Region exceeded 8 million rubles.

According to Nikolay Galushin, Deputy Director General for the Corporate Business of Ingosstrakh OJSIC, "Grain-crops fall throughout the territories of several dozens of thousands of hectares because of drought, and hayfields and pastures burn out, which inflicts a tremendous damage on the agriculture sector. That is why the insurance contract from a reliable insurance company with a maximum possible cover including risks of occurrence of meteorological and man-caused phenomena, which are hazardous for the agricultural production, shall be a good guarantee of the loss compensation.

"We realize that agriculture insurance plays an important social role. As we know, almost all plough lands in our country are located within the area of risky farming. It means that efforts of the agricultural producers may be in vain because of the complicated agro-meteorological conditions. The insurance is a tool, which makes it possible to mitigate such risks and possible losses," Nikolay Galushin said.

Apart from drought, the agricultural producers encountered other acts of nature last year.  Wheat crops were damaged because of the plant disease and heavy hailing in the Stepnyie Zori Agricultural Production Co-operative Collective Farm in the Stavropol Region. The damage, which amounted to 9.2 million rubles, was compensated by Ingosstrakh in full.

The fire from the short circuit led to a complete loss of one of the insured sugar-beet harvesters owned by MVS LLC, and  Ingosstrakh paid out over 4.4 million rubles for this insured event. The same amount was paid to the Plemzavod “Giant” Agricultural Production Co-operative Farm in Kalmykia for the winter crops damaged by winterkill.

Poultry breeders, too, suffered some losses last year.  For example, Altaisky Broiler CJSC, the top poultry producer in the Altai Region, experienced major power supply outage.  The compensation paid by Ingosstrakh to the farm for the loss of the livestock amounted to 2.67 million rubles.

According to Nikolay Galushin, apart from the mentioned insured events, payments were also made for the loss of cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, commodity stocks of grain, production and agricultural equipment, theft of the agricultural machines, damage to buildings, etc. But in all cases the Ingosstrakh policy was a guarantee of preserving well-being and financial stability for the aggrieved. We always indemnity our clients, agriculture enterprises and farms, promptly and in full, thus contributing to the development of the agricultural sector.