18 thousand Brazilian coffee farmers will have access to “tailor-made” rural insurance for the 2022/2023 harvest

Lockton, an independent insurance broker and consultancy, the insurer MAPFRE and Cooxupé formalize a partnership for the distribution of agricultural insurance to members of the largest coffee producer cooperative in the world.

With the initiative, Cooxupé intends to reach 18 thousand cooperative coffee growers, who will have exclusive access to structured rural insurance solutions – prepared “tailor-made” by Lockton's Agricultural Risk Management specialists –, with the option of insurance protection of Named Risks or Multi-risk. MAPFRE takes over as operator of the project.

According to Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo, president of Cooxupé, the solution was created to bring more support and peace of mind to coffee growing families during the 2022/2023 harvest. “In addition to mitigating risks for coffee crops, as adverse weather conditions are factors of great concern for every rural producer”, he explains.

He adds that the initiative should strengthen the Brazilian coffee growing market, as countless analyzes and studies were carried out before signing the partnership. “We are united to provide the best conditions on the market and we tested several hypotheses until we arrived at a coverage model that could be customized, according to the peculiarities of each crop”, says Melo.

According to Catia Rucco Rivelles, Agribusiness Superintendent at MAPFRE, as has happened in other countries, rural insurance in Brazil is going through a process of maturation and consolidation. “This expansion is a reflection of this evolution. Rural producers begin to see insurance as an investment that reduces the fundamental risk in managing their business, and no longer as a cost,” she states.

Since coffee plantations are spread across different regions of the country, each cooperative producer will receive an insurance proposal with solutions designed according to the risks inherent to the respective coffee plantation area. “No off-the-shelf products will be offered, these policies will be different from anything that exists in the agricultural market, with consultancy before, during and after contracting”, guarantees Julia Guerra, director of Lockton's Agribusiness specialty.

Protection options for the 2022/2023 harvest

Coffee production for the 2022/2023 harvest is estimated at 50,38 million bags, according to the 3rd Bean Survey for the current season, carried out by the National Supply Company (Conab).

In the last two cycles, adverse weather negatively influenced coffee productivity. The plant's performance was impacted by the lack of rain in 2020, and last year, in addition to drought, heavy frosts were recorded in important producing regions.

“We are increasingly suffering from the impacts of global climate change. Given the prolonged drought and frost that affected crops in previous harvests, there is an imminent need for protection and implementation of risk management for the cooperative farmer who wants to preserve his investments and guarantee the stability of his business in the next harvests”, he highlights. War.

Agricultural insurance models

With the aim of providing the Minas Gerais group's members with efficient risk consultancy, Lockton and MAPFRE segmented the rural insurance offer into two types: Named Risk Insurance (Cafezal) and Multi-risk Insurance.

For more information, Cooxupé members should contact us via email: kelvin@cooxupe.com.br; debora@cooxupe.com.br; vanessasantos@cooxupe.com.br.