Farmers in Ukraine may be insured against ASF

Owners of pig farms have been suffering from ASF for some time now. This year, ASF caused real damage to businesses of European farmers. Ukrainian farmers have also been affected, writes “Agro-Center”.

Dmytro Moroz, head of the expert group on veterinary medicine, animal health, and welfare of the Directorate of Security and Food Quality, told the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine that the Ministry plans to consider a possibility of insurance for pig farmers who might suffer from ASF outbreaks.

If the funds allocated for other state programs for farmers in 2018 are not used in full, they will be directed towards this new insurance project.

“Pig farms invest in biosafety and comply with its requirements but there are still cases of ASF. Even this year. The problem is that pork producers cannot rely on compensation as private farms – local budgets do not have enough money for legal entities,”

said Oksana Yurchenko, vice president of “ASU”.

Maxim Shilov, a leading agribusiness advisor on insurance in Ukraine, noted that state support is a good motivation for farmers to insure their business, as shown by positive results in other countries.

“This doesn’t apply only to crops. If an agrarian is insured by an international company, it is an indication for banks and investors that a person can be trusted,”

said Maxim.

Let’s recall that almost half of the Ukrainian farmers work illegally.