Compagnie Nationale d’Assurance Agricole du Sénégal (CNAAS) has selected Africa Re, the most prominent African Reinsurer, to lead the reinsurance program of 40,000 cotton and maize farmers in Senegal, jointly with AXA CS and CICA Re, according to a press release issued by Africa Re. The news indicates a positive development in the agriculture sector in Senegal, which accounts for 35% of annual GDP, as the country is facing several climate-related risks including drought and floods, undermining food production and jeopardizing food security. The development of index insurance in Senegal can be

In a study, a research economist at the Institute of Policy Studies finds that index insurance could be a feasible option for Sri Lankan farmers if they had greater education and awareness that overcomes existing lack of trust, EconomyNext reports . It is not uncommon that fa rmers have become skeptical about insurance after they heard about other bad experiences other farmers had with indemnity insurance. The lack of trust, as the farmers are unsure whether they will get benefits when disaster strikes, hinders the development and wider implementation of index insurance.

The Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) has rolled out a scheme that will make insurance for farmers easy to access, Ghana's Graphic Online reports. “The future is bright for agricultural insurance, what we need now is for farmers to embrace it. That is why we are working towards that. Because we have financial institutions who have expressed interest to partner with us and whatever they lend to farmers would have an insurance component, so that in the bad years the farmers would be comfortable and the financial institutions would be comfortable,” said General Manager Alhaji Ali Muhammad

Bloomberg BusinessWeek wrote an article that discusses crop insurance in Africa, whose potential to benefit the region's farmers remains relatively unlocked. "Africa has struggled to marshal the necessary resources to unlock their agricultural potential. Gains in one area, such as better seed, are often stymied by deficits in others—not enough grain silos. Getting smaller farmers plugged into credit networks would help spur investment and bring new producers to markets," says Ulrich Hess, a senior adviser to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. In Africa, index insurance

The recent downpours across Botswana have submerged crops and left livestock dead, Mmegi Online reports. Against this backdrop, agriculturers should be prepared for climate applications including climate-smart agricultural practices. " In this regard, dissemination of agro-weather advisories and other climate-smart agricultural practices will be enhanced through Public Private Partnerships," the report adds. Such agro-advisory services is estimated to facilitate greater investment from the private sector in priority areas including weather-based index insurance and associated infrastructure.

In an interview with ABC News Australia, Jay Horton, an agribusiness consultant with Strategis Partners says only few Australian farmers subscribe to insurance despite the huge risk of growing a crop each year. Mr. Norton also notes that that while some companies in Australia offer multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI), even fewer offer index insurance. This situation contrasts the fact that "insurance reduces the likelihood that the company will have to raise costly external capital at the wrong time." Mr. Horton also urges better forms of risk management in the agricultural sector in Australia

In India's the Hindu, Sucharita Mukherjee, CEO of IFMR Holdings, wrote that risk management through a range of financial products can minimize losses to livelihood. "Catastrophes such as drought, floods and earthquakes not only impact the economy of a nation but also affect the very subsistence of poor and vulnerable communities," reads the Op-ed. The article also cites index insurance practices in Ghana and Mongolia, where, respectively, drought index insurance covers all the growing stages of maize and index-based livestock insurance protects livestock against particularly strong winters

In an article entitled "After a Poor Harvest in Senegal, farmers Find Creative Ways to Carry On", Oxfam wrote that Senegalese farmers use index insurance to protect their livelihoods from a bad harverst due to poor rainfall. " Farmers can pay the premium with cash, or through a work-for-insurance program designed to help build community infrastructure like rock walls in areas prone to flooding and severe erosion, or small dikes to store water for more gradual use," reads the article. In Senegal, index insurance is provided through the Oxfam and the World Food Programme’s R4 initiative. Click

As the 2016 short rains came late, Kenya's Meteorological Department had to warn that the shortfall might affect crop production and livestock farming, Kenya's Daily Nation reported. The country and other Southern African nations are currently witnessing two kinds of drought — hydrological and agricultural — both of which are causing disaster as water and food have become scarce, the report added. “We are at the point where people need to adapt. There is need for diversification and shift in the kind of crops to plant, and buying of crop index insurance,” says Department of Meteorology's

In its Topics Online article, Munich Re reported that many risks are not yet sufficiently covered by insurance in developing and emerging countries , resulting in the so-called protection gap, which is the difference between total economic loss and insured loss. Joaquim Levy, Managing Director and World Bank Group CFO, addressed the topic in a speech at this year’s Chief Risk Officer Assembly in Munich . "We are concerned about the fact that in many emerging-market countries, risk-sharing mechanisms such as insurance are not sufficiently developed in view of the significant challenges posed by