The dawn of Agricultural Insurance in Uzbekistan

May 29, 2023

Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan

On May 25, 2023, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the project "Improving insurance and risk financing" (IRFF project) of the United Nations Development Program organized a roundtable discussion on the topic "Development of Agricultural Insurance in Uzbekistan".

Representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan, ministries and agencies, the Association of Professional Participants of the Insurance Market, insurance companies, research institutes, independent experts, as well as UNDP and a number of other international organizations and companies took part in the event.

Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan

The roundtable discussion was opened by the Deputy Head of the Department of the Insurance Market Development of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan Botir Usmonaliev with an introduction and noted the importance of developing the agriculture insurance in  Uzbekistan.

Bakhodir Bekov, Head of the UNDP Inclusive Growth Cluster in Uzbekistan pointed out that the development of agricultural insurance is an urgent issue in countries where the agrarian system is in the leading position, including Uzbekistan. Mr. Bekov highlighted the main findings of the study and emphasized the need for a coherent strategy to systematically support the development of agricultural insurance and thereby ensure the sustainability of food security systems. Also, it is necessary to further expand the work of explaining the benefits of agricultural insurance among farmers and households with land.

Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan

Orzimurad Gaybullaev, IRFF project manager, presented the main goal of the project "Improving insurance and risk financing", plans for 2023, and called the participants of the roundtable to cooperate for the achievement of common goals.

The main speaker of the Round table – an international expert of the project Dr. Rom Aviv presented main results of his report on " Development of Agricultural Insurance in Uzbekistan". Dr. Rom Aviv analyzed the current situation at the agricultural insurance in Uzbekistan, agricultural insurance system used in practice in Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, USA, Israel, and Uganda. He recommended introduction of the new "Agricultural Insurance Pool of Uzbekistan (AIPU)" for Uzbekistan, based on an in-depth analysis of the current state of agricultural insurance in Uzbekistan and advanced foreign experience.

Participants of the roundtable discussed all main results of the report, existing insurance products in agriculture, problems and recommendations to eliminate of the problems. It was recommended to carefully study all the positive and negative aspects of the introduction of the AIPU system, to develop proposals for making appropriate changes to the legislation.