For the first time136 Ghanaian smallholder farmers receive US insurance claims
Smallholder farmers totalling 136 in Ghana received insurance claims in 2012 under a new scheme introduced by US programme, Feed the Future (FtF).
All the smallholder farmers in the Northern Region received claims under the drought-index insurance scheme – the first time in the history of Ghana that the agriculture sector has received compensation for losses due to a shortfall in rain through such a programme, the FtF has said.
The FtF introduced smallholder farmers to the insurance scheme in 2011 and procured and installed five automated weather stations at five districts in the Northern and Upper West Regions for the Ghana Meteorological Agency.
It explains that introducing “these insurance products in Northern Ghana, helps to protect farmers, agro-processors, rural banks and financial institutions, input dealers and others from the effects of drought.”
The insurance initiative is managed by GIZ’s Innovative Insurance Products for the Adaptation to Climate Change programme funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
The initiative was developed with the help of Ghana’s National Insurance Commission, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Ghana Insurers Association, Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ghana Meteorological Agency with support from Swiss Re.
By Ekow Quandzie