BY NEW BUSINESS ETHIOPIA REPORTER
Oromia Insurance Company (OIC) is set to sign 21 million birr (around 1.6 million USD at today’s exchange rate) worth crop insurance with farmers tomorrow (July 24, 2010) in Meki town of Oromia Regional State, 147 kilometers from Addis Ababa.
Around 2,000 farmers, represented by their unions will sign the agreement with OIC buying basic seed insurance for the crops they are growing on 520 hectares at the moment.
“We are happy to introduce seed insurance in Ethiopia for farmers, which will make them to undertake farming confidently,” Mitiku Abdissa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OIC told newbusinessethiopia.com.
The unions, which will sign the agreement with OIC tomorrow, are also shareholders of the insurance company, the CEO noted.
The extension of insurance to the agricultural sector and rural population is believed to make a substantial contribution to the development of agriculture and the economic security of the rural population.
Like many African countries, in Ethiopian farmers used sell their assets or suffer from severe malnutrition whenever harvest failure and drought occur.
The new trend, which makes some of Ethiopian farmers to be owners of insurance company through their unions last year, is expected to rescue them from such problems.
In 2010 OIC has signed a total of 54 million birr worth insurance premium with five farmers’ unions, which represent around 4,300 farmers.
In addition to OIC, Nyala Insurance Company is also providing insurance services to farmers in some parts of Ethiopia since 2008.
