OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2012. Oranta took part in a radio program "Problems of agricultural insurance in Ukraine" on air radio "Kolos" (part of the National Radio Company of Ukraine). The company was represented in the above discussion by the Deputy Chairman of the Board, Mr. Vyacheslav Grabina. Program participants - representatives of government and insurance industry discussed current issues on the most pressing agricultural risks and the measures to be taken at the state level, so that insurance companies feel interested to engage in agricultural insurance and the prospects for this type of insurance in Ukraine.

"Oranta provides full range of insurance of agricultural risks. The most popular is the insurance of winter crops for the period of hibernation. If you take the last five years, from 2008 to 2012 Oranta collected over 66 million Hryvnia insurance premiums for the insurance of crops and crop yield. At the same time payments for the period amounted to almost the same amount, namely about UAH 68 mln. The most productive was the period of 2008-2009, when the real state support was provided to this area. With regard to territorial coverage, Oranta covers all regions of Ukraine,"- commented Mr. Grabina on the position Oranta at the agricultural insurance market.

Among the major shortcomings that hinder the development of agricultural insurance in Ukraine, are obsolete and non-transparent mechanism for farmers receiving subsidies, the lack of clear parameters for their minimum and maximum sizes, questions about the reinsurance and non-residents of the fund covering catastrophic risks. This reduces the interest of farmers in agricultural insurance with state support. "In our opinion, the state must provide compensation for the insurance premium in an amount not less than 50%, and to ensure payment in case of a catastrophic injury within the defined limits", - said Vyacheslav Grabina.

As for insurers, today the real players in this market are 10-15 companies. Another sharp point for today is a shortage of specialists in the field of agricultural insurance. Until recently, many companies engaged in insurance of agricultural risks could operate in the market without having a single agricultural specialist in staff. Now it has become a prerequisite activity. According to Mr. Grabina, Oranta doesn’t have such problems. Ever since Oranta’s predecessor UkrDerzhstrakh times, this kind of insurance was well developed, thus the company has built a whole system of training and specialization of the profile. The staff potential has been restored over the years and added with the new practices, since Oranta brought the young specialists to business – the graduates of universities and experts from research institutes and experimental stations.