Pensions for farmers going up – ASIF

Poland’s Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (ASIF) announced on Thursday that the minimum pensions for retired farmers would rise from PLN 882 per month, to PLN 1,000. The president of ASIF, Adam Sekściński, made the announcement to the Polish press, indicating that the increase would be effective as of March, 2017. He explained that for those currently receiving less – some 400,000 retired farmers – their retirement benefits would be topped up to the thousand-level. Sekściński also announced that funding changes would affect insurance coverage for children of farmers as well. In the case of an accident, a child’s parents will not bear the premium, effective mid-October of 2017. Poland’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Rafał Romanowski, commented on the changes. “I feel very proud and grateful to the Fund and the board ASIF that made this additional insurance for farmers' children,” he said. Additionally, changes made by the government to return the retirement age to 65 (from 67) for men, and to 60 for women, will apply to all agricultural workers as well. The total number of agricultural workers in Poland receiving the new minimum pension will be 1.2 million.