Prior to the amendments, the specialized law on subsidized insurance of agricultural risks clearly defined the structure of the insurance premium, i.e. the policyholder’s contributions – 30% is paid by the agricultural producer, 70% is a subsidy from the state.
Accordingly, the legislative and regulatory “rules of the game” were known a priori to the participants of the insurance business from both sides (both policyholders and insurers).
Taking into account the change of rules, the Cabinet of Ministers should have decided on the share of subsidy in the insurance policy of agricultural producers already at the beginning of 2026. Since in January-February farmers insure winter crops against spring frosts – in particular, such a resource-intensive crop as rape.
The draft of the relevant decree has been developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry MAIA and, in an optimistic scenario, will be adopted by the government only next week. It envisages maintaining the same share of the subsidy – 70%.
However, insurance companies will start preparing insurance contracts and so-called dossiers (requests) for subsidies for their submission to the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture AIPA not earlier than March. And in spring, farmers insure mainly orchards and vineyards. In other words, the time for registration of contracts for winter crops insurance will already be lost.
What caused the delay?
In comments for Logos Press, insurance brokers note that the delay in the launch of the 2026 campaign of agricultural risk insurance was caused by the fact that the development of the Strategic Plan of Agricultural Policies (PSPA) until 2030 is currently underway.
Its draft assumes a change in the mechanism of agricultural risk insurance “according to the European type” – the farmer pays all 100% of the insurance premium, after which some part of it is compensated by the state.
The Cabinet of Ministers was inclined to first adopt the PSPA, and then – the decision on the amount of the subsidy share. But the parliamentary corps, namely, the chairman of the parliamentary commission on agriculture, Sergei Ivanov, intervened in the rule-making process. As a result, a draft government decree “on the share of subsidy in the insurance policy” appeared.
According to the National Bank of Moldova, in the period 2022-2024, there has been a constant increase in gross insurance premiums, from 93.2 million lei to 129.0 million lei, reflecting the expansion of the agricultural insurance market and the increase in the volume of concluded contracts. The sum insured increased from 974.2 million lei in 2022 to 1.395 billion lei in 2024, which confirms the increase in the level of financial protection of agricultural production. Payments of insurance companies to agricultural clients for insured events ranged from 44 to 57 million lei.The ratio of premiums/payments fell from 58% to 44%, which indicates an increase in the efficiency of insurance mechanisms and stabilization of the agricultural risks market.
The explanatory note of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry of MAIA to the draft government decision “on the share of subsidy” notes that the positive dynamics of the agricultural risks insurance market is conditioned by “the subsidization rate of 70% of the insurance premium, established before the amendment of the Law No. 183/2020”.
Nevertheless, according to the estimates of insurance business operators, no more than 1% of the total area of agricultural land in Moldova has been insured in the last few years.
