Government of Chile and IICA to promote agricultural insurance

Santiago, Chile, 19 January 2015 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Government of Chile’s Comité de Seguros del Agro (Agroseguros) have signed a new agreement aimed at promoting new agricultural risk management tools.

The tools in question would enable Chile’s crop, livestock, and forestry subsectors to be better prepared for the effects of disasters. The work will contribute to the development, promotion, and dissemination of financial instruments, and training in their use, to help producers cope with economic damage caused by risks in agriculture and forestry.

The agreement was signed by IICA’s Representative in Chile, Alejandra Sarquis, and the Executive Director of Agroseguros, Camilo Navarro.

It follows a number of other joint initiatives, such as support for capacity building processes undertaken by the Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP) in the regions of Metropolitana and La Araucanía.

Agroseguros, an entity created in 2000 by the Board of the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), has the brief of developing and promoting insurance for the sector, and administering a State subsidy for the copayment of premiums.

“IICA’s technical cooperation is a great help and enables us to validate our efforts at the international level. Drawing on the Institute’s experience, we will continue to work very hard on the issue this year,” Navarro observed.

For further information:
alejandra.sarquis@iica.int