Ukrainian farmers could well insure their crops before, but the new law on insurance guarantees that the state will reimburse half the cost of insurance policies.

Director of the agriculture ministry’s department for finance and credit policy, Bahrat Akhijanov said this during Thursday’s videoconference at the Cabinet, which linked the ministry with Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Odesa.

“The government promises to provide money for this in next year’s budget. This would benefit both the state and peasants, as the budget will not simply subsidize farmers, but will lend money only to those who insure their crops,” the official said.

According to him, the cost of insurance policy varies from 50-60 UAH per hectare of crops. This is a rather low level of spending to protect the value of crops that cost 1,200 hryvnias per hectare, the source says.

Under the new law, more than 20 insurance companies are willing to work with farmers, but experts believe that it is necessary to set out clearly all the conditions for compensation – from calling who exactly will determine the amount of damages to analyzing the efficiency of farming.

Averagely, field cultivators would pay 100 hryvnias per hectare, and in the case of disaster, insurers will give farmers six times more. Yet, the new law does not apply to the current crop losses, which are quite significant in the south of Ukraine, and insurance under the new rules will begin next year.

The law on insurance of the agricultural products market took force on July 1.

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