IFC to insure African farmers against weather risks

Farmers in Africa will soon benefit from an insurance package from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to protect them from natural disasters and weather-related risks that can destroy their livelihoods at a stroke.

Through its Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), the IFC says this will help bring affordable, index-based insurance protection to developing countries and emerging markets, where uninsured farmers and herders often struggle to recover from storms, floods or droughts.

The IFC is providing millions of dollars to cover this insurance for farmers in Africa.

“IFC has conferred millions of dollars in performance-based grants and contracts to help extend weather insurance to tens of thousands of farmers in Africa, protecting them from natural disasters and weather-related risks that can destroy their livelihoods at a stroke,” it says in a press release on July 11, 2011.

Insurance will pay out if the index is triggered, irrespective of the actual loss, it adds.

The GIIF has conferred six grants in Africa with commitments of almost $10 million. The IFC says it wants to expand the GIIF into countries such as Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, and other countries in Africa.

By Ekow Quandzie