Cameroon Index Insurance Project
In 2016, GIIF conducted a feasibility study that sought to improve the knowledge and understanding of the market opportunity for index insurance and provide a value chain mapping to assess index insurance opportunities in specific sectors: cotton, maize, livestock, and sorghum. In 2017, a complementary study focused on providing a simulation model to estimate the price of potential index products in cotton, maize, and sorghum.
In March 2018, GIIF partnered with two insurance companies – ACTIVA Assurances and AXA Cameroun – to implement a risk transfer and capacity-building pilot project which is expected to provide insurance coverage for 150,000 farmers by 2020. Since the signing of the agreements, the two insurers have carried out extensive research, awareness-raising activities and farmer/aggregator training sessions, recruited dedicated staff and explored various product design options. The first insurance contracts are expected to be sold during the 2019 crop season.
Cameroon’s agricultural sector is increasingly experiencing shocks due to climate change. More than 12 million Cameroonians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Their primary means for agricultural risk mitigation are limited to risk avoidance and other informal approaches such as underinvesting in agricultural inputs.