Agriculture is a source of employment for nearly 50% of adult population in Bangladesh contributing to 13% of GDP in 2019. The country is highly exposed to climate change risks: cyclones, floods, droughts and saltwater inundation due to tidal surges. Notably, the 2007 Cyclone Sidr caused $18 million loss in livestock and over $415 million in crop production. Farmers in Tangail suffered millions of losses from Gopalganj flood this year. According to a WBG study, high water stress due to rising temperatures will affect the yield of Aman and Boro rice, the country’s two major staple crops, with potential yield losses as high as 70%. Further, soil salinity has affected 62% of coastal land and sea level rise may reduce available cropland by about 25% in Coastal Divisions.

While the rationale of deploying agriculture insurance to protect farmers against such weather shocks is strong, one persisting challenge is lack of insurance awareness among the country’s 12 million smallholder farmers. Green Delta Insurance (GDIC), GIIF’s implementing partner in Bangladesh, has been steadily developing its capacity on agriculture insurance. GDIC plays an important role in the ongoing Promoting Risk Mitigation Measures for Climate Change Adaptation (Surokkha), funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA). The insurer contributed to designing a farmer education program on crop insurance through music and play. The community outreach uses storytelling to convey the basic mechanism of insurance and build rapport with the agrarian communities.

The 15-min video exemplifies the power of creativity in insurance literacy education to help conceptualize unfamiliar ideas related to crop insurance in the rural areas. To watch the full video, click here. 

Key messages:

• 2:25:  What is crop insurance?
• 4:14:  Weather index-based crop insurance has finally come to Bangladesh.
• 5:23:  What are the disasters that insurance companies take the risk for?
• 6:08  How will the insurance companies understand farmer's loss?
• 9:47:  How can farmers get a weather index-based crop insurance?
• 11:10:  Would it take too much money from farmers?
• 11:40:  Summary

Photo Credit: World Bank/ Scott Wallace