Satellite Technology and its continued advancement is critical to the relevance and accuracy of index insurance products as a counter against weather-related risks. The World Bank Group’s Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) in partnership with its regional partners has been working with researchers and scientists to refine satellite technology for index insurance product design.

While access to credit is a key instrument to alleviate rural poverty, microfinance institutions (MFIs) are often unable to expand their agriculture lending portfolio. One of the key constraints that MFIs face is the exposure of agriculture lending to shocks such as drought, flood, or locust which can put farmers in a situation where they are unable to repay their loans. Major agriculture shocks can indeed lead to loan defaults and bank runs therefore resulting in destruction of risk capital, reduced access to liquidity, decreased lending and sometimes insolvency. Evidence shows that credit...

Having enough food in East Africa depends largely on the productivity of smallholder farms, which in turn depends on farmers’ ability to invest in their farms. Weather insurance can encourage farmers to make these critical investments by improving their access to credit. The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF)—an IFC/IBRD collaboration housed under IFC’s Access to Finance’s Global Retail/Microfinance Cluster—is an innovative program that is expanding access to insurance against weather risks and natural disasters to farmers, livestock herders, and others, particularly in Africa and the...