Algeria: Farming mutual insurer signs contract with food group Lacheb
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2017
Agriculture mutual insurer CNMA (Caisse Nationale de Mutualité Agricole) has signed an insurance agreement with the private group Lacheb covering major investments in strategic agricultural sectors.
Mr Cherif Benhabiles, CEO of CNMA, said that agricultural multi-risk insurance is a tool for securing investment in agriculture, reported Emerging Maghreb.
He also stressed that the CNMA considers itself much more than an insurer, and is a full-fledged player in the agricultural sector. “We are not just insurance sellers. Unlike other insurers, we invest in the support of farmers and stockbreeders, we invest in training and the transfer of know-how,” he added.
Mr Abdelhamid Bouaroudj, speaking on behalf of the Lacheb Group, explained that the investment plan was being carried out in seven phases, the first of which started in September 2016 with the first harvests expected in May 2017. The overall investment project, which extends over 20,000 hectares, includes the establishment of a pilot farm for breeding nearly 20,000 dairy cows.
The Lacheb Group has 16 companies whose activities cover six wilayas (provinces), with more than 90,000 cubic metres of cold storage capacity, the transportation of refrigerated agricultural products, the production of seedlings for fruit trees such as citrus fruits, pomegranates, apples and grapes, packaging and packaging of agricultural products, as well as marketing. M