Tanzania: Robust Insurance Strategy Coming to Boost Farming
Plans are underway to draw up an insurance strategy on agriculture in Tanzania, AllAfrica reports. According to the country's Commissioner of Insurance, a meeting of insurance stakeholders was recently conducted to discuss the strategy. It is hoped that by having the strategy, agriculture will be stimulated, the report adds. Agriculture is Tanzania's economy mainstay, accounting for nearly 30% of GDP, and 67% of the workforce was employed in the sector in 2014. Most Tanzanian farmers are smallholders; few families cultivate more than two hectares. Around 20% of farmers use ox-ploughs, 10% use tractors, and the rest till the land by hoes.
In the article, World Bank Group's Officer Chloe Dugger is quoted as saying, " For agro-insurance schemes to be successful, they must be rooted from PPPs." The experts also add that since rains have been largely unreliable in the last few years mainly due to global warming and climate change and small-scale farmers have often seen their efforts go to waste and a life-threatening famine zoom in.
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