Insurance should be considered as part of production costs.

In Ha Long City, the Quang Ninh Province Cooperative Union in coordination with departments, branches, localities, units... has just organized a workshop to discuss insurance solutions for agricultural cooperatives in the province.

In Quang Ninh province, cooperatives are present in the pillars of agriculture, services and industry, in key areas such as rural areas, remote areas, border areas and islands. Not only making important economic contributions, contributing to the development of land resources and the vast sea area of ​​the province, cooperatives play the role of the main economic organization in ensuring food security, providing safe food chains and agricultural growth of the province, serving as the foundation for the development of industry and services of the province.

Mr. Ngo Tat Thang, Chairman of the Quang Ninh Province Cooperative Union, spoke at the workshop. Photo: Thanh Phuong.

With the nature of operating mainly outdoors, agricultural production is often affected, exposed to risks and damages due to climate change, natural disasters, epidemics, etc. One of the effective risk prevention measures is agricultural insurance. As an effective financial tool, agricultural insurance not only minimizes risks but also supports farmers in restoring production after natural disasters, contributing to ensuring food security and stabilizing farmers' livelihoods.

Mr. Ngo Tat Thang, Chairman of the Quang Ninh Province Cooperative Union, emphasized that protecting the safety of people and assets in agricultural production against the risks of natural disasters and epidemics is an extremely necessary requirement, especially for aquaculture activities in Quang Ninh province. Lessons from livestock and poultry epidemics over the past years, especially the lessons from the damage caused by storm No. 3 (Yagi) in September 2024, show that it is necessary to quickly take measures to prevent risks for farmers, organizations, and cooperatives in the agricultural sector.

At the workshop, delegates discussed and assessed the challenges and risks in agricultural production; policies to support production development, prevent and minimize risks caused by natural disasters and epidemics, and restore production and business for affected cooperatives; raise awareness, ability to identify and assess risks in agricultural production of cooperatives, considering insurance costs as a necessary part of production and business costs of cooperatives.

The severe damage to caged aquaculture in Quang Ninh caused by storm No. 3 in 2024 shows that insurance for agricultural production is very necessary. Photo: Cuong Vu.

At the same time, delegates also evaluated agricultural insurance products that have been successfully applied in the world and in Vietnam; proposed agricultural insurance products that can be applied to high-risk agricultural production in the area. Along with that, proposed policies that Quang Ninh province needs to issue to support agricultural insurance so that agricultural cooperatives can confidently participate and invest in production and business, improving the lives of members.

Mr. Do Minh Hoang, member of the Board of Directors of Agricultural Bank Insurance Joint Stock Company (ABIC), made a number of recommendations and insurance solutions for agricultural production in Quang Ninh. These recommendations aim to build a comprehensive agricultural insurance ecosystem, contributing to realizing the vision of green and sustainable agricultural development and minimizing risks for farmers. It is necessary to build a linkage chain, including insurance; build a comprehensive insurance program; build a mechanism for sharing insurance premiums; enhance the role of banks and build a local risk reserve fund.

Forestry production in Quang Ninh suffered extremely heavy damage due to storm No. 3 in 2024. Photo: Cuong Vu.

In addition, representatives of cooperatives raised questions and difficulties, and proposed to build a suitable and flexible agricultural insurance support mechanism. Ms. Dang Thi Lien, representative of Van Thanh Phat Cooperative - a pig farming unit in Mong Cai, expressed her hope that agricultural insurance sales units would have insurance packages suitable for the cooperative's farming model.

Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van, President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, emphasized the role of agricultural insurance in risk management of cooperatives. At the same time, she proposed that the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province assign tasks and place orders for the Alliance to implement a number of projects such as digital transformation in agriculture, agricultural insurance, etc.

Currently, Quang Ninh has 768 agricultural cooperatives, accounting for 70.65% of the total number of cooperatives in the province, with a workforce of nearly 70,000 people. Many cooperatives are developing according to the value chain model.

Source: https://nongnghiep.vn/can-coi-bao-hiem-nhu-mot-phan-chi-phi-san-xuat-d747347.html