More than 5,300 farmers in the Region of Murcia will benefit from the new agricultural insurance model

More than 5,300 farmers in the Region of Murcia will be able to benefit this year from the new agricultural insurance model approved on Thursday by the Governing Council. They will be almost triple the number of professionals in the field of those who received official subsidies last year, according to the regional Executive. The Autonomous Community will allocate 4,160,000 euros this year for this type of aid, more than double that of the last year.

At the proposal of the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment, the Governing Council authorized the change in the agricultural insurance model that will allow farmers to apply the direct discount at the time of contracting. This system breaks the current model, in which the beneficiary who contracts insurance receives two subsidies: one from the state, at the time of contracting, and another from the Autonomous Community at the end of December of the following year.

After the agreement reached with Agroseguro, at the time of contracting the insurance, the farmer would pay the amount of the premium once both subsidies, the state and the regional one, have been deducted, which will facilitate the subscription of the agricultural insurance by the interested parties and a reduction in the amount they have to make.

Another benefit is that, with this new system, all farmers who meet the requirements to be beneficiaries of the subsidy by the State Agricultural Insurance Entity (ENESA) will automatically be entitled to the subsidy from the Autonomous Community.

It will be expanded for livestock

The regional government indicates that it is “committed to the primary sector to support it in a difficult time, which is facing low prices for its products and the unaffordable rise in production costs due to the rise in raw materials, fertilizers, electricity and hydrocarbons.” . We have to reach this solution, which paves the way to the contracting of insurance to a large extent, due to the importance they have for our agriculture, ”indicates the Ministry of Agriculture.

The regional Executive went from providing 600,000 euros in aid in 2017 to 1.9 million in 2020, and the budget for 2022 rises to 4,160,000 euros, more than double that of the last year. He considers that it is a necessary budget increase to be able to carry out the change of model, since in the 2022 financial year the subsidy corresponding to the current year and the previous one will be deducted.

Agricultural insurance is a tool that makes it possible to maintain the agricultural income of producers in the event of a weather event and allows the rural population to be fixed, something that is very necessary in many places in Spain and in some of the Region of Murcia. For next year, the Regional Government has promised to include new eligible lines, such as livestock.

The lines that currently have subsidies are fruit trees, citrus fruits, indoor vegetables, outdoor vegetables, extensive herbaceous plants, dried fruits, wine grapes, cherries, table grapes and vegetables from successive cycles. «The agri-food sector in the Region needs adequate, simple and viable insurance. In the face of increasingly evident effects of climate change, agricultural insurance becomes the most effective and convenient tool for farmers and ranchers to protect their farms, “says the Ministry.

With the new model approved this Thursday, the farmer, at the time of contracting the insurance, will see the subsidy reflected in the form of a discount on the premium. This is something that farmers have been demanding for a long time since the State Entity for Agricultural Insurance (Enesa) does it this way and if, in addition, we apply the discount from the subsidy from the Autonomous Community, the disbursement that farmers have to make at the time of hiring is significantly lower.

On the other hand, with this new system, all farmers who meet the requirements to be beneficiaries of the subsidy from Enesa will automatically be entitled to the subsidy from the Autonomous Community. With the previous model, only those who applied for the subsidy benefited once the call was opened, therefore, in this way, there will be a greater number of farmers who can benefit from this aid made available by the Autonomous Community.