Small holder farmers in Kenya and Rwanda will benefit from a new insurance programme sponsored by the World Bank Group arm International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The insurance programme will offer to cover to more than 35, 000 farmers and 5,000 livestock keepers in the two countries from financial losses occasioned by drought or floods and other natural disasters.
The IFC has partnered with the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), Kenya’s UAP Insurance company and the International Livestock Research Institute, among others, to increase farmers access to insurance services that will cushion them from heavy losses that come with poor harvests occasioned by bad weather.
The IFC will disburse up to $4.1 million (Ksh.329 million) to finance this project. The Grant will facilitate the insurance of about 20,000 farmers in Kenya, 15,000 farmers in Rwanda and 5,000 livestock keepers in semi arid northern Kenya where thousands of animals die every time drought occurs.
The grants will also go towards capacity building and provision of advisory services to farmers. The insurance cover is expected to spur increased production and food security.
The pilot phase of a similar insurance programme undertaken by the SFSA, UAP Insurance and Kenya’s leading mobile operator Safaricom dubbed ‘Kilimo Salama’ – Swahili for “safe farming” – has provided cover to over 11,000 farmers in parts of Kenya.
The programme works through a small insurance premium – farmers pay an extra five percent during purchase of seeds. Once weather stations positioned across the country record low or excess rainfall amounts, payments of the claims are automatically triggered and made to the farmers through mobile money transfer.
The programmes aim at encouraging farmers to use improved seeds and nutrition for their crops so as to increase production and boost food security.
Photo from World Bank Photo Collection
