How is ELGA compensation calculated?
Greece's compulsory crop insurance scheme covers a closed list of causes and insures the season's production, not the plant capital. A loss of up to twenty per cent of the parcel's production is, as a rule, not compensated; above that, the regulation pays eighty-eight per cent of the portion above fifteen per cent. The insured value is set administratively. Here is how the figure is arrived at.
What does the regulation cover, and what not?
ELGA's crop insurance regulation does not cover «any damage to the crop». It enumerates causes of loss, and anything not on the list is outside it. The natural causes it names are hail, frost, windstorm, flood, heatwave and solar radiation, excessive or untimely rainfall, snow and sea spray. Damage by wild animals is added: bear, wild boar and wild rabbits in defined areas.
The second limit is less well known and more decisive: it is the production that is insured, not the plant. Article 4 of the regulation provides that «damage caused to the plant capital, or which reduces the production of the following growing season, is not insured, save for asparagus». A tree that is destroyed and the following harvest lost with it are two different quantities, and the regulation compensates only the current season's harvest.
How is the compensation figure arrived at?
In two separate steps, both written into the regulation. The first sets the insured value of the production: the number of stremmata as declared in the Single Crop and Livestock Declaration, the average yield per stremma and per crop for the geographical area, and the value of the product per kilo or unit as fixed by the ministerial decision in force at the time. It is therefore an administratively determined quantity — not the price you sell at, and not the cost of replanting.
The second step applies the minimum deductible. A loss of up to 20% of the total production of the damaged parcel, by crop and variety, is not insured. Where the loss exceeds 20%, ELGA «pays compensation equal to 88% of the portion of the loss above 15%». The threshold is measured per parcel and per crop and variety — not across the holding as a whole. The same article allows that threshold to be raised or lowered for particular crops or insureds, by a decision of ELGA's board approved by the Minister, so the percentages are the rule rather than a constant.
The two steps together explain why the amount paid does not equal the amount of the loss, even on a total loss of the harvest. The table works the arithmetic through on a hypothetical insured value of €10,000.
| Loss as % of production | Compensated % | Compensation | Not compensated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15% | 0% — below the threshold | €0 | €1,500 |
| 20% | 0% — up to 20% is not insured | €0 | €2,000 |
| 30% | 13.2% | €1,320 | €1,680 |
| 50% | 30.8% | €3,080 | €1,920 |
| 100% | 74.8% | €7,480 | €2,520 |
Plain arithmetic on the regulation's percentages, using a hypothetical insured value. It is not a prediction for a particular case: the insured value is set administratively, and the same article allows the deductible to be raised or lowered by a decision of ELGA's board approved by the Minister.
What do you look for in your own documents?
Six things to find, with the terms as printed on Greek documents and their English equivalents.
| What you are looking for | Term on the document (Greek) | In English | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| The areas you declared | Ενιαία Δήλωση Καλλιέργειας/Εκτροφής | Single crop and livestock declaration | In that year's declaration, in stremmata by crop and variety |
| The basis of the amount | Ασφαλιζόμενη αξία της φυτικής παραγωγής | Insured value of the crop production | Regulation, article 3 |
| The threshold | Ελάχιστο όριο απαλλαγής | Minimum deductible | Regulation, article 7 |
| What it is measured against | Συνολική παραγωγή του αγροτεμαχίου, κατ' είδος και ποικιλία | Total production of the damaged parcel, by crop and variety | Regulation, article 7 |
| What stays outside | Ζημιές στο φυτικό κεφάλαιο | Damage to the plant capital | Regulation, article 4 |
| If a private policy also exists | Καλυπτόμενοι κίνδυνοι / εξαιρέσεις | Covered perils / exclusions | On the schedule and in the exclusions of your own policy |
The regulation is a public text and is cited in the sources. What applies to a particular declaration or parcel is visible only on your own documents.
What does PolicyWallet do with this?
Less than you might expect, and that is worth saying plainly. PolicyWallet reads insurance policies that you upload. It has no connection to ELGA, it does not calculate ELGA compensation, and it does not know what will be paid in any particular case. The percentages on this page are the regulation's, not ours.
Where a private policy exists for the holding or for the same crop, that is the document it can read: which perils it names, which amounts and deductibles it sets, what it records as exclusions — and where it is silent. When the document does not say something, PolicyWallet records it as not stated; it does not infer it, and it does not read silence as cover.
You upload the PDF and the covers, limits and exclusions appear in plain language, on the same page as the original document — so you can see side by side what the private wording takes on and what it leaves to the regulation's closed list.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a 20% loss not compensated?
Because the regulation sets, as a rule, a minimum deductible: a loss of up to 20% of the parcel's total production, by crop and variety, is not insured. Above that line compensation is paid equal to 88% of the portion of the loss above 15%, so the step up from 20% is not gradual.
Is the insured value the price I sell at?
Not under the regulation. It is set by three quantities: the stremmata as declared, the average yield per stremma and crop for the geographical area, and the per-kilo or per-unit value fixed by ministerial decision. Those per-kilo values are reissued periodically, so we quote none here.
I found a different list of perils — which one applies?
It is worth checking the date of the text you are reading. This page rests on the 2011 regulation (Gazette B΄ 1668/27.07.2011) and its amendments through 20-06-2025. An older 1998 text also circulates with a different list of causes — it does not include solar radiation. The index of texts in force and their amendments is in ELGA's legal-framework page, in the sources below.
Is damage to the trees themselves covered?
The regulation provides that damage to the plant capital, or which reduces the production of the following growing season, is not insured, with the exception of asparagus. Compensation attaches to the production of the season that was damaged.