Innovation on Agri-Insurance market: comprehensive program for agribusiness “We care about your harvest”

Credit Agricole Bank, IFC, Syngenta and “AXA Insurance” Company announced the launch of the innovative insurance product for wheat to expand access to funding for agrarians and facilitate more active usage of Agri-Insurance in Ukraine.

Wheat is one of the main grain crops in Ukraine. According to the product terms, agriproducers can insure seeds of winter wheat for the period of wintering and in the spring/summer period. The main purpose of the product is to help preserve and protect seeds and crops of wheat from risks occurring in the cultivation process. Within first three years the users will receive special beneficial conditions, consultative support and possibility to take part in trainings for insurance and newest agricultural technologies.

“We believe it is extremely important to make our contribution to the development of agribusiness in Ukraine. Apart from financial partnership for agro-companies, we aim to be the reference bank, to bring or support innovations, help agro-sector develop and conquer new markets.  This is why we are interested in creation of a really efficient insurance product for agrarians that mitigates risks both for the customers and for the bank. This practice of agri-insurance, already traditional for other countries, will facilitate the increase of funding, which in its turn will help substantially expand business opportunities for Ukrainian agrarian producers”, comments Larysa Bondarieva, the Management Board Member of Credit Agricole Bank.

At the first stage the program “We care about your harvest” will be available for agricultural producers of Poltava, Cherkasy and Vinnitsa regions.   

“Our team used best international practices of development of this innovative product to help small and medium agricultural producers protect their crops and therefore, to facilitate the development and growth of their business. We also hope that such new offer will activate the usage of Agri-Insurance in Ukraine”, noted Lia Soroka, the project manager of IFC “Development of Agrarian Sector Finance in Europe and Central Asia”.

Development of this innovative product was based on the program partners’ understanding of the need to ensure new conditions of agri-insurance. “To think like agro-producers: this is the principle behind the strategy of the Syngenta company. We take the place of an agrarian, keep analyzing its needs and work on development of the most efficient solutions to ensure stable development of agro-business. The new program will make Ukrainian producers confident in investments. It is not always easy to preserve crops but this program unveils myths and fears about the difficulty of Agri-Insurance products”, mentions Gebhard Rogenhofer, the CEO of the Syngenta Company in Ukraine.   

Lack of transparent and simple insurance products and, as a result, lack of confidence of agrarians in insurers and financial partners are the reasons of low popularity of agri-insurance in Ukraine. Today the level of insurance of seeds and future crops in Ukraine is less than 5% while in the US it is over 80%.

The partnership around the creation of the new agri-insurance program is aimed at change of approaches and philosophy of agro-companies in terms of planning of crops protection.

Strengths of the new product are simple contractual terms, fairness and transparency of relations among participants of the insurance process. Under the conditions of the program the Syngenta Company will provide commodity loans to agro-producers while Credit Agricole Bank will grant money loans and together the partners will cover up to 50% of costs for payment of insurance premium instead of agro-producer. The product is reinsured by a reliable international re-insurer, which guarantees timely payment of insurance indemnity.   

In the opinion of the customers of Syngenta Company, year by year such programs prove to be reliable and efficient. “We already have successful experience of work with agri-insurance programs and believe that in the future this direction will develop as quickly as in other countries. The possibility to protect crops becomes more accessible due to simplified system of processing and provision of training consultancy”, supports Oleksandr Khizhniak, the CFO of the company AgroCo.

“Two years ago we made a decision to enter the agri-insurance market of Ukraine. During this short time using our international experience and gradually investing resources into the development of this area, we managed to become one of TOP 5 agri-insurers. But what is the most important is that we saw the interest in the insurance of absolutely all participants of the agri-sector: financial institutions, farmers, companies supplying the technologies of crops cultivation. We want to thank our partner companies for their confidence in AXA and to assure our customers in provision of the first-class service and guaranteed reimbursement of potential losses. AXA will keep making efforts and invest resources to change stereotypes existing on the market and promote agri-insurance in Ukraine”, says Maksym Mezhebytskyi, the Vice-President of the company “AXA Insurance”.

About the bank:

Credit Agricole Bank is a modern universal bank owned by the leading financial group in Europe – Credit Agricole Group (France). The Group is a major partner of the French economy and one of the largest banking groups in Europe. It is a leading retail bank in Europe, having the largest portfolio of assets under management, being first in the field of bank insurance and third - in project financing in Europe. Credit Agricole has been operating in the financial market of Ukraine since 1993 and renders the entire range of banking services to private individuals, including VIP clients, and business. The Bank pays special attention to cooperation with agricultural enterprises. Reliability and business reputation of Credit Agricole in Ukraine is confirmed by the highest possible Fitch ratings, leading positions in bank sustainability, bank deposit reliability and bank profitability rankings, as well as by 443 000 private and 40 000 corporate customers, including representatives of small and medium business, large Ukrainian companies and international corporations.

Contacts:

Viktoriia Torianyk, Head of PR and corporate communications Credit Agricole Bank
Phone: +38 044 581 07 45, email: Viktoriia.Torianyk@credit-agricole.ua