Provide for Agric insurance

THE National Insurance Commission (NIC) has called on insurance companies to develop products that would address challenges facing the agricultural sector.
Currently, there is no insurance company that offers any product for agriculture although the sector employs about 60 per cent of the country’s working population.
The Deputy Commissioner of the NIC, Mrs Nyamike Kyiamah, posed the challenge at the launch of the Donewell International Travel Policy in Accra on Tuesday.
The product, developed by Donewell Insurance Company, seeks to address the numerous risks faced by the travelling public to Europe. An insurance policy has become a requirement for travellers securing visas to travel to most European countries.
Mrs Nyamike said the agricultural sector, which accounts for 35 per cent of the nation’s GDP, could not be left out in matters of insurance.
She explained that any initiative to cover the sector would contribute towards increasing the level of insurance penetration in the country.
She said Ghana’s insurance penetration, currently at 1.6 per cent compared to an insurance penetration of 12.7 per cent for South Africa, was too low and needed immediate action to address the trend.
Mrs Nyamike observed that the discovery of oil in commercial quantity had opened up a huge market for insurance companies and challenged them to position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities.
In a statement read on his behalf, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, commended Donewell for the initiative and pledged the support of the government towards the growth of the insurance sector.
He tasked the players in the industry to take measures that would address the declining standard in marine insurance.
Dr Duffuor noted that the level of knowledge in insurance in the country was very low and called on the insurance companies to ensure consistent education of the public.
The Managing Director of Donewell Insurance, Mr Victor Larbi, said some of the benefits of the new policy were the payment of medical expenses and provision of legal assistance by an insurance company while the policy holder had travelled abroad.
Some other benefits include medical transportation being catered for, lost or delayed baggage and repatriation after treatment.