Advanced

Sub-Saharan Africa

Favorable conditions for achieving scale, building markets and institutionalize index insurance
19
Jan

Favorable conditions for achieving scale, building markets and institutionalize index insurance

Rachel Sberro-Kessler
Data
Data management
Weather index
Area yield
Micro-level
Macro-level
This post was originally produced during the GIIF Conference held in Paris at the OECD Headquarters. The 6 key lessons learnt that emerge from the panel are as follows: Insurance needs to be part of a value add package that generates higher income for the farmers Governments play a key role in creating markets for agricultural insurance. Experiences in Peru, India and Senegal point to government interventions such as premium support, risk financing, and linkage to credit. There is a need to design and offer the right insurance product. Area Yield Index Insurance may offer an adequate
Read More
New Trends in Agricultual Finance

New Trends in Agricultural Finance

Topics:
Data
Other frameworks
Product design
Livestock
Micro-level
Macro-level
Agricultural finance is crucial to support the growth of the agricultural sector. Indeed, it is essential for food security, job creation, and overall economic growth. This synthesis report presents a summary of research studies on five key areas of agricultural finance innovation prepared under the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), as well as the presentations and discussions of these study findings during the “G20 Roundtable on Innovations in Agricultural Finance” convened on September 9, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey by the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Finance Sub-Group
Read More
Farma Bagayoko works in a greenhouse filled with tomatoes at the Sidibe Argo-Techniques in Katibougou Village, outside Bamako, Mali on November 3, 2013. Sidibe Argo-Techniques is growing watermelons, sweet peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
24
Nov

Research on Index Insurance: What do we know and what do we not know?

General
Interview with Xavier Gine, Lead Economist within the World Bank Research Department (DEC). 1/ What do we know about index insurance after about 10 years of experience? There has been a lot of research around the question of take-up and impact of index insurance. Despite the potentially large welfare benefits, voluntary take-up of index insurance products has been rather limited so far. Explanations for this low demand could include: The first reason is that the product may be expensive, relative to the existing risk coping strategies. After all, when it is not subsidized as is the case for
Read More

Insurance is an Important Tool to Protect the Most Vulnerable

Interview with Gloria Grandolini, F&M GP Senior Director, World Bank Group Over the last 10 years , our work at the World Bank Group (WBG) has led to over 35 million farmers benefiting from new or improved insurance products. The WBG recognizes the importance of making available financial solutions, particularly insurance instruments to compensate for losses following adverse natural events.
Read More
Bundling Index Insurance with other Financial and Non-financial Services
28
Aug

Bundling Index Insurance with other Financial and Non-financial Services

General
Product design
Weather index
The Global Index Insurance Facility together with the ILO's Impact Insurance Facility, USAID and BASIS/I4-sponsored Global Action Network (GAN), organised a webinar to look into the question "How can index insurance be bundled with other financial and non financial services". This webinar featured speakers from global organizations who shared experiences and discussed which services and activities in the agriculture value chain are most aligned for bundling. It explored mechanisms and issues in bundling, and also looked into the possible impact of bundling on pricing & off-take of index
Read More

Zambia

Market launch:
Country:
Zambia
Region:
Sub-Saharan Africa
Smallholder farmers in Zambia are vulnerable to weather-related shocks such as drought, flooding, and irregular rainfall. Insurance can be a good risk management tool for these farmers, but the traditional insurance market largely fails to meet their demand for affordable insurance. Index insurance provides an innovative and more efficient solution for them to protect their crops against losses and encourage investment. In March 2016, the Global Index Insurance Facility signed a capacity building grant with Mayfair Insurance, a private insurer registered in Zambia. The grant enabled them to
Read More
The Present and Future of Inclusive Insurance
20
Jul

The Present and Future of Inclusive Insurance

General
What happens when a major national development organization – GIZ and a leading private insurer – Allianz SE get together to build innovation in micro-insurance? Watch full video of the event here Experts presented key insights on micro-insurance with a larger view on how these lessons learnt can be applied to other inclusive insurance projects and to various other sectors. The 60 minute session showcased case-studies ranging from how GIZ has assisted Allianz in turning a corporate responsibility charitable micro-insurance story into a fully-fledged and profitable micro-insurance business
Read More
What should we expect from regulation of Index Insurance in Kenya?
14
May

What should we expect from regulation of Index Insurance in Kenya?

Rachel Sberro-Kessler
Weather index
Can you give us some examples of key trade-offs that you have faced when providing technical support to the overarching policy discussion on regulation of index insurance in Kenya? The first trade-off that we have faced was in the definition of insurable interest. In the law of insurance, the insured must have an interest in the subject matter of his or her policy, or such policy will be regarded as a form of gambling. However, in Kenya most farmers do not own their land as they work on communal farms or as wage laborers. We therefore decided in our policy framework to define the insurable
Read More
Index Insurance in Kenya
11
May

Index Insurance in Kenya

Rachel Sberro-Kessler
What do you think of the upcoming index insurance regulation in Kenya? Well, at this stage, I think we have drafted a policy paper which sets guidelines for the future regulations , however I believe that we have here an opportunity to enhance access to insurance in Kenya. What are the expected benefits? One of the key expected benefits is the creation of a consumer protection framework. This means that index insurance products will need to be explained very clearly and in a simple way, and all the contract terms (ex: triggers, reference weather stations, index design etc...) will have to be
Read More
Insights from the Field: Benin
02
Apr

Insights from the Field: Benin

Rachel Sberro-Kessler
Weather index
“ I did not believe in crop insurance before, but now it is a reality for me”! It is with great enthusiasm that 38-year old maize farmer Bessekourou Issiaka from Northern Benin received the first payout on his weather insurance policy. Because of the lack of rain this season, some of his maize fields generated less than half of their usual yield, or 800 kg/ha instead of the usual 2000 kg/ha. He is therefore quite relieved to receive FCFA 90,000, about 180 dollar insurance payout which will help him repay the loan he took to purchase inputs for the maize production. Bessekourou Issiaka is one
Read More