A three day international short term insurance seminar in February 2025, in Cape Town, will assess the growing impacts of hail damage on crops. In this picture, Aphiwe Iliwe, from Wolsley, empties damaged nectarines into a crate on a fruit farm, after millions of rands of damage was recently done to the crop due to hail and flooding. PICTURE: THOMAS HOLDER. REPORTER: HENRIETTE GELDENHUYS
Edward West
edward.west@inl.co.za
Leading South African insurer Santam has been chosen to host the 2025 Loss Adjusters' Seminar in Cape Town, bringing together global agricultural insurance experts to discuss hail damage assessment in fruit farming.
The event highlights South Africa's growing influence in agricultural insurance despite Africa's current 1% market share.
The International Association of Agricultural Production Insurers (AIAG) decided that Santam will host the 2025 Loss Adjusters' Seminar in Cape Town.
AIAG is an international body of the world's leading agricultural production insurers, reinsurers and brokers. Founded in 1951, the organisation promotes the worldwide exchange of knowledge, experience and data between agricultural insurers. Participants exchange information about adjusting techniques and how to manage risks for various agricultural crops, at its congresses and conferences.
The three-day event will see more than 60 delegates from around the world converge in Cape Town to assess the impact of hail on plums and apples. Hail damage, according to Santam, accounts for approximately 90% of their business from an agricultural insurance perspective.
"As a long-standing member of the AIAG and a primary agricultural insurance provider on the continent, we are proud to have been selected for the opportunity to host this event. Africa has one of the lowest Gross Written Premiums from a global agricultural insurance perspective at 1% of the global market, and we are therefore not widely represented on the international stage," Daniel Stevens, Executive Head: Agriculture at Santam, said on Monday in a statement.
"Hosting an event like this allows us to not only demonstrate our expertise in the agricultural and agricultural insurance sectors, but we will also show off our beautiful country to international delegates," Stevens said.
The seminar will be on 24 to 27 February 2025. It will have speakers with expertise on hail damage, market trends, industry constraints, climate change, diseases, bio-security and sustainability, among others.
Stevens says Santam is at the forefront of developing accurate agricultural damage claims assessment methodology and procedures, as it is the only insurance company that has an experimental farm. The farm is in Bloemfontein, one of Santam's key areas in terms of clients with crop insurance.
"Having an experimental farm of our own allows us to, among other important aspects, simulate the impact of hail in order to create accurate and practical assessment protocols and methodologies around it," said Stevens.