OREANDA-NEWS. April 22, 2010. In 2009, ROSNO’s Volgograd branch paid clients 46,521,042.82 roubles under crop insurance contracts. The adverse weather conditions persisting in the region in the winter of 2008 to 2009 led to the partial destruction of overwintering plants, and the soil and atmospheric drought observed in the spring and summer of 2009 resulted in the crop shortage. The insured agricultural producers were compensated for replanting and partial loss of crops, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

In total, last year, the Volgograd branch of IC ROSNO made nine payments to seven agricultural producers insured under the contracts contemplating partial compensation of the cost of insurance policy out of the federal budget.

In May 2009, the branch compensated two agricultural producers for winter wheat replanting. Some overwintering plants were lost to the combination of low (close to critical) average daily soil temperatures at the tillering node depth and uneven snow cover paired with impetuous wind. The company paid 5.5 mln. roubles to cover the costs of replanting 1,592 ha to Tingutinskoye Ltd. and 673 thousand roubles to Dumbrov Farm for the replanting of 200 ha. Both the farms are located in the Svetloyarsky district of the Volgograd Region.

The natural phenomena threatening agricultural production — soil and atmospheric drought during the summer vegetation of winter wheat — led to the downfall in crops gathered by the five agricultural enterprises insured with ROSNO. The Volgograd branch paid the following crop shortage compensations: 20.99 mln. roubles to OJSC Chervlenoye (the Svetloyarsky district), 6.49 mln. roubles to OJSC Volgo-Don (the Kalachevsky district), 4.36 mln. roubles to Zerno Zavolzh’ya Ltd. (the Staropoltavsky district), over 3 mln. roubles to OJSC Primorskoye (Bykovsky district), and over 3 mln. roubles to the Dumbrov Farm.

The soil and atmospheric drought observed in May — July of the last year resulted in the shortage of spring barley throughout the sown area owned by Agroholding Dubovsky Ltd. (the Dubovsky district). The insurance compensation paid by ROSNO equalled 694 thousand roubles. Also, due to the prevailing weather conditions, this agricultural holding was unable to gather spring wheat crops. ROSNO paid the farm over 1.67 mln. roubles for this insured accident.

The Volgograd farmers increasingly use agricultural risk insurance, since this is an efficient funding instrument enabling machinery modernization financing and gathering more crops. This is also evidenced by the increasing size of the Volgograd Region’s agricultural areas insured with ROSNO. While in 2008, the insurance protection covered 35,922 ha, in 2009, this figure grew 2.4 times (86,532 ha). The amount of insurance compensations received by the Volgograd-based farms under the agricultural insurance contracts concluded with ROSNO increased ninefold in 2009 versus 2008.

For many years, ROSNO has been conducting agricultural insurance operations. The company has formed a specialized Agricultural and Natural Risk Insurance Department. ROSNO participates in the state-supported agricultural producer insurance program. The crop insurance program contemplates protection against complete loss (destruction) or partial loss (shortage) as a result of natural phenomena negatively affecting agricultural production (drought, freeze, winterkill, asphyxiation, hail damage, dust storms and sand storms, earthquake, avalanche, mud flow, snowmelt flood, and soil overwetting).