IFC partnered with CARD Pioneer Microinsurance Incorporated (CPMI) in the Philippines to design and launch a new crop-insurance product to protect farmers from typhoon-related losses. It will initially target CARD’s farmer clients. CARD is the Philippines’ largest micro-finance institution with four million clients. “This is the first private sector-led crop-insurance product in the Philippines and a ground-breaking initiative by our partners CPMI and CARD,” said country manager Yuan Xu.The agriculture sector contributes approximately 11 percent of the country’s GDP and provides employment for

In a Harvard Business Review article, authors Dean KarlanRebecca, MannJake Kendall, Rohini PandeTavneet, and SuriJonathan Zinman discuss why microfinance is an imporant instrument for people in poverty to protect themselves from shocks such as illness, crop failures, livestock deaths, farming-equipment breakdowns and even wedding or funeral expenses. The article also sheds some light on why uninsured risk — not lack of access to capital — is a primary constraint on investment by farmers. "In India, when farmers were given rainfall index insurance, six percent more farmers focused production

ReliefWeb published a blog report on the progress of the Rural Resilience Initiative (R4) in Zambia. The program, launched by The World Food Program (WFP) and Oxfam, enables vulnerable rural households to increase their food and income security in the face of increasing climate risks. " In Zambia, smallholder farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture and constantly face challenges such as erratic rainfall, fragile soil and poor access to markets. Climate change places an additional burden on farmers’ food security by increasing the frequency and intensity of shocks including drought and flooding,"

In an interview with The Ethiopian Herald, published on AllAfrica.com, Solomon Zegeye, Micro Insurance Business Manager at Nyala Insurance Company, said weather index insurance service provided for smallholder farmers has registered positive outcomes in Ethiopia. "The World Bank and the World Food Program (WFP) are also playing crucial role in research and interpretation," said Zegeya on how d onors are involved in the process in providing finance, advise and other technical support. Although farming is the backbone of Ethiopia's economy, it is highly vulnerable to drought, weed, and pests

According to agriculture and development researchers, Southern African farmers facing hunger as a result of worsening drought know a lot about climate change but lack the resources to put solutions that work into place, Reuters reports. Such shortcomings are one reason an ongoing drought in southern Africa has left 23 million people dependent on food aid, with another 13 million in need of help, according to the Southern African Development Community. In addition, persuading farmers to buy indexed insurance remains a struggle, said Godwin Mashiri, a micro-insurance expert with mobile phone

The Philippines's Former Agriculture Secretary is now pushing for an act mandating the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) to offer index-based insurance coverage and allowing it to engage in reinsurance, increasing its funding source, and imposing heavier penalties on spurious claims, Manila Bulltin reports. Congressman Arthur Yap, Economic Affairs Committee Chairman, also said that "with stronger and modern insurance system in the agriculture sector, banks would be more confident to lend to farmers." Congressman Yap also specified the need to encourage private insurance companies to offer

In a news feature, NDTV reports that weather insurance has become increasingly popular among Indian farmers as droughts and unseasonal rainfalls are destroying their crops.