AXA Global Parametrics is looking to offer its parametric insurance product in the Philippines, primarily targeting the local agriculture sector, Busines World Online reports. “In the Philippines, we don’t offer any products yet but we are working...[with] companies, partners to try to sell the product across the Philippines,” AXA Philippines Chief General Insurance Officer Claude Seigne said in the interview.

Ethiopian pastoralists have received payouts for index-based livestock insurance offered by a local insurance company, Thomson Reuters Foundation reports. In Ethiopia, livestock insurance schemes were initiated by the International Livestock Research Institute, which has been providing technical support for the design and monitoring of the index in the country, the report adds.

Parametric insurance has the potential to serve a significant developmental role in Africa, as it pays out benefits based on a predetermined index for losses resulting from catastrophic events, Clyde & Co's Max Ebrahim and Wynne Lawrence wrote in Commercial Risk Online. In the article, GIIF's collaboration with ACRE Africa, which is serving the populations in Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, is also cited.

At its Annual Meetings in Ahmedabad in May, the African Development Bank (AfDB) identified political will as one of the key ingredients to the continent's agricultural agenda, AllAfrica reports. According to AfDB President, other key strategies the AfDB is proposing are the development of industrial agri-businesses to raise productivity in the sector and ultimately support economic growth. In addition, the region needs to support its young people who are providing weather index insurance and extension services.

At the 44th African Insurance Organization (AIO) conference recently held in Uganda, participants suggested that the agriculture has potential that regional insurers are yet to tap, All Africa reports. Shadrack Mapfumo, GIIF Senior Financial Sector Specialist, was also quoted at the conference as saying, "Insurance companies should invest more money in crop varieties such as maize," arguing that this would help secure farmers from poor harvests. "Even that crop variety that insurance companies say is not insurable, [it can be insured] only that because they [insurers] have not studied it. We

Reinsurance and insurance stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa say momentum for index insurance solutions in the region continues to grow, Reinsurancenews reports. Speaking ahead of the 10th Consultative Forum on building disaster resilience amongst small-scale farmers through agricultural index insurance, FSB Chair of the IAIS Regional Committee for Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “agricultural index insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa is gaining momentum."

Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance will start selling insurance products that compensate farmers hit by drought in Indonesia as early as this fall, Asian Nikkei Review reports. With a premium of 50,000 rupiahs ($3.76), contract farmers will be entitled to be compensated 500,000 rupiahs if a drought occurs, the newspaper also details.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and specialist reinsurance company Reasuransi MAIPARK Indonesia have agreed to develop insurance products to help local farmers mitigate weather-related risks, Jakarta Globe reports. The agreement will establish insurance schemes that pay out benefits to farmers if a weather event exceeds levels in a predetermined index — which will measure rainfall levels, temperatures, wind speeds and crop yields, expected to provide cheaper and less complicated insurance benefits to farmers in the event of a natural disaster. "The region's changing climate has

Accra, Ghana, 27 April 2017 – IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Africa Reinsurance Corporation supported a two-day technical workshop on risk modeling and strategic decision-making for index insurance products. Most of the agricultural land in Sub-Saharan Africa is rain-fed, and many regions are vulnerable to climate shocks such as drought, flooding, and irregular rainfall. To limit their losses in any given year, smallholder farmers often invest very little into their land, which leads to reduced yields and contributes to food insecurity. Insurance can be a good risk management tool

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and PT Reasuransi MAIPARK have agreed to jointly develop index-based insurance products to hedge risks against adverse weather events for agribusinesses, bank agriculture-loan portfolios, and farmer groups. The impacts and effects of adverse weather events—such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes—were felt during the most recent El Niño, when some of the worst hit agribusinesses reported up to 30 percent drops in projected yields. IFC will support MAIPARK—a special-risk reinsurance company—to work with local insurance companies to develop, sell, and