Bad times for farmers. Added to the poor harvest figures from last year due to the ravages of drought and the increase in fuel or fertilizer prices is the increase in the cost of agricultural insurance policies by more than 30% compared to 2023. .
As they point out Self-employed and Entrepreneurthe high number of compensations that the different agricultural insurance companies had to pay last year explains this percentage increase in herbaceous insurance.
Thus, from the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA), a source consulted by the aforementioned media, this extra cost may mean that different farmers have to choose between closing their business or insuring their farms or not.
A decision, the latter, that represents a great risk for the businessman since, if adverse weather conditions for production occur, as has already been predicted in Catalonia, in the midst of a state of emergency due to the drought, they would not be protected by compensation, the which amounted to 455 million euros only for extensive arable crops.
Soaring prices and protests
According to the media, UPA stated that the price of agricultural insurance has gone from 24 euros per hectare to 34 euros on average, which represents an increase of around 40%. In this way, sector associations such as UPA, Asaja or the COAC are already strengthening ties to call for mobilizations.
The protests have already been taking place since 2023. Within the framework of the Sant Miquel 2023 Agrarian Fair held in Lleida between September 28 and October 1, the Union of Farmers and Livestock Unions presented a document with its proposals to improve agricultural insurance and criticized that it has become a monopoly in the hands of Agroseguro, leaving workers in the sector aside.
2024-02-04 13:02:07
#insurance #suffocates #farmers
