The 86th International Agricultural Fair officially opened in Novi Sad on Saturday, 11th May. Following the welcome addresses of Slobodan Cvetković, General Manager of the Novi Sad Fair, and Tunisian Ambassador H.E. Seyf Allah Rejeb, visitors were also addressed by Franco Manzato, Undersecretary for Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry of Italy, which is this year’s guest of honour country. Participants were welcomed on behalf of the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina by Đorđe Milićević, Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, and on behalf of the Government of Serbia by Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Minister Branislav Nedimović.
The fair was officially opened by Novi Sad Mayor Miloš Vučević, after which visitors and guests toured the stands of participating exhibitors. Special interest was evident at the stands of Italy and insurance company Generali osiguranje Srbija.
Generali osiguranje Srbija has been a partner of the Novi Sad Fair for eight consecutive years and a general sponsor of the International Agricultural Fair.
At Generali Osiguranje’s stand, in the Courtyard of the Novi Sad Fair, agricultural producers and other visitors will be able to get acquainted with insurance products for agriculture, animals, machinery and households, but also with other products with which tye can financially protect themselves, their families and their production.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Generali Srbija CEO and Executive Board Chairman Dragan Filipović said: “Given that Serbia is an agrarian country, we try each year to introduce new services and coverage in the field of agricultural insurance, thereby enabling farmers to sleep peacefully. What is still a problem in our country is that 85% of agricultural farmsteads are uninsured, and all of us together as an industry, together with the state, need to engage to a large extent in building awareness of the importance of insurance.”
This fair is extremely important for linking and exchanging experiences between state institutions, producers, the food industry, insurance companies and banks. For Generali Osiguranje Srbija, it is also an opportunity to present to the domestic insurance market modern technologies that it uses in the field of agricultural insurance – application for appraising the damage to crops and fruits, drones and many others. The basic characteristics of the application include more precise and efficient appraisals and processing of damage to crops and fruits, defining the location of damaged plots, checking the type of crops and the area of plots, monitoring the status of processing damage and editing damage on the electronic map of Serbia. Highlighted as the main benefits of using drones are the significant increase in transparency, the speed and precision of determining the condition of crops and fruits prior to insurance and after the possible occurrence of damage, as well as a significant reduction in the costs of conducting insurance.
Only about 15% of plant production and as little as 5% of livestock reserves are insured in Serbia, which is far below the average of economically developed countries. One reason for this is farmers’ traditional distrust of financial institutions. Generali Osiguranje Srbija wants to help them overcome these prejudices.
An increase in the number of insured farmers – especially in the Morava, Zlatibor and Kolubara districts – is expected to be influenced positively by the regulation according to which subsidies for insured agricultural production have increased from 40 to 70 per cent. This will be discussed in more detail at a press conference to be held on 16th May at the Master Centre of the Novi Sad Fair.