Oman Reinsurance, the Sultanate’s sole home-grown reinsurer, has added event cancellation reinsurance protection to its slate of products starting this year, following the official launch of its agriculture insurance in the country in October 2017.
This year, Oman Re started writing event cancellation protection in the GCC and Lebanon with capacity limit/sum assured up to OMR350,000 (US$909,000) per declaration with the ability to deal with larger risks where needed. The company is targeting small and medium risks in a range of indoor and outdoor events.
Prior to the launch of the event cancellation service, Oman Re introduced two types of agriculture covers to be offered in the market, namely cost of production insurance (to compensate farmers’ production costs) and market price insurance (to compensate farmers’ production expenses and profit margins). The whole agriculture insurance scheme will be implemented in three phases to include the insurance of vegetable and greenhouses, livestock and poultry insurance, and insurance of date palms and honeybees.
The initiative is the result of the commitment of a working group comprising the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MOAF), Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), the Capital Market Authority (CMA), Oman Development Bank (ODB), National Life & General Insurance, Dhofar Insurance, Al Madina Takaful, Arabia Falcon Insurance and Oman Re.
Aware of the growing importance of agriculture to the Omani economy and the threat posed by natural hazards and agricultural pests, the working group was tasked with studying the introduction of insurance for the agricultural sector to provide a safe and encouraging investment environment.
In recent years, modern technology, combined with improved farming practices, has led to greater production of various crops, especially fruit and vegetables, in the Sultanate.
Additionally, Oman increasingly considers itself to be self-sufficient in agricultural production as well as being a leading exporter of agricultural produce to other Gulf countries.
Oman Re CEO Romel Tabaja said: “We are honoured to have been part of the working group to introduce agriculture insurance to Oman. Adding value to the Omani economy by safeguarding farmers and their production perfectly matches our mission whereby we are committed to providing innovative and responsive solutions that meet our stakeholders’ needs of today and goals of tomorrow.” M