A total of 2.7 million hectares of arable crops are protected by the Spanish Combined Agricultural Insurance system against drought, according to the insurance data registered by Agroseguro for the current campaign. They represent more than 1,700 million euros of insured capital.
Agroseguro remembers that the drought risk is included within the agricultural insurance for dryland crops, mainly arable crops (winter cereal, legumes, rapeseed, sunflower), although it is also included in insurance modules for other dryland productions, such as wine grapes, olive groves, corn, alfalfa, dryland beets, almond and hazelnut.
It is important to highlight that the period of recurrence (repetition) of droughts has been reduced in recent years: while in previous decades it was between seven and ten years (1995, 2005, 2012), in the current period it is much shorter ( 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023), highlighting the continuity in the last two years. Until now, and in terms of agricultural insurance compensation, the droughts of 2012 and 2017 are the ones that have made the highest payments to insured farmers, with 210 million and 190 million euros respectively.
Second year in a row with major drought damage
For its part, 2022 was uneven, with strong periods of high temperatures, heat strokes and lack of precipitation, although, unlike 2023, the presence of occasional rains in March and April reduced the impact of the drought. Even so, Agroseguro paid 117 million euros to producers insured for drought claims on 1.28 million hectares. Of the total, 90 million euros correspond to payments made to producers of herbaceous crops.
Finally, 37% of the total agricultural claims registered during 2022 (in the set of all insured agricultural productions: rainfed or irrigated) were due to the risks of drought, asura or non-emergence.
Impact of the 2023 drought
The final impact of the low rainfall in the current season (in terms of damaged area and compensation) may be specified depending on the progress of the harvest and the weather in the coming weeks, as well as the assessment of damages, which will be carried out in parallel and coordinated with the insured producers. In the case of the early zones, it will begin during the month of May, and in the rest of the producing zones, from June.
