Thursday, 28th March 2024
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African farmers supported with mobile drought insurance

Kenyan farmers will now be able to take advantage of the mobile insurance project that will support small-scale farmers to safeguard their crops against the dry seasons and other natural disasters.
PHOTO: worldagroforestry.org

PHOTO: worldagroforestry.org

Kenyan farmers will now be able to take advantage of the mobile insurance project that will support small-scale farmers to safeguard their crops against the dry seasons and other natural disasters.

Farmers who have at least one acre of land can insure themselves against extreme weather conditions. They will pay a 5% surcharge upon purchases of seeds and fertilizers registered with an insurance company that keep in touch with farmers through text messages.

The “insurance man” as it was called was a feature many Western countries are practicing in the past decades. Small amount will be collected by local agents on a weekly basis to give cover against long-term illness, funeral costs and unemployment, as reported by BBC.

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative designed to help African farmers to increase cassava production on the continent in order to compete globally was launched at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria’s commercial city of Ibadan, headquarters of the institute. The project which brought together partners and initiatives already involved in the cassava value chain was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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