Up-Scaling ARC's Risk Transfer System

Meso-agricultural insurance is critical for smallholder rice farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, as the sector is vulnerable to climate-related risks such as drought and flooding, which can devastate crops and livelihoods. Access to insurance provides a safety net that enables farmers to mitigate the financial impact of adverse weather events and maintain the stability of their agricultural activities. By providing protection against these risks, meso insurance promotes resilience, supports sustainable agricultural practices and contributes to food security efforts in the region.

African Risk Capacity (ARC) is introducing a crop insurance service to complement existing government insurance schemes, creating a complementary but distinct offering. This approach ensures that insurance ownership shifts from the government to the individual, providing a more personalised and tailored insurance solution.

The final target groups are 175’000 smallholder rice farmers households, with focus given to women and youth, and their 910’000 household members in Côte d'Ivoire.
Other direct target groups are agricultural value chain actors participating in the insurance scheme, including the government.

Indirect target: The AU countries will benefit from a wider range and better quality of parametric insurance products.

Outcome 1: Improved climate-resilience and socio economic status of smallholder farmers

Outcome 2: Improved sustainable agricultural practices of smallholder rice producers

Erwartete Resultate:  

• 125’000 rice farmers sensitised and digitally registered for insurance
• Weather Area Index model in place, which is optimised for local conditions
• Parametric agricultural insurance scheme for smallholder rice producers in place

Resultate von früheren Phasen:  

Since 2022, significant efforts have been made to develop index-based weather insurance for smallholder rice producers in Côte d'Ivoire. ARC Ltd and partners worked with various stakeholders, including insurance regulators, financial institutions and beneficiary groups, to establish the infrastructure for this insurance scheme. The organisations responsible for designing index insurance products, namely the consortium of insurers, have all received authorisation from the insurance regulator to develop and distribute meso and micro agricultural insurance products. The initiative led to the issuance of the first parametric insurance policy in June 2023, covering 5’000 rice producers in Cavally and facilitated by the World Food Programme.

Sarmap developed a Weather Area Index (WAI) to underpin the parametric insurance product for the rice value chain in Côte d'Ivoire. ARC Ltd and partners have invested USD $250’000 in data collection, product development, regulatory approval, policy documentation, awareness raising and capacity building.

• World Food Programme (WFP) as aggregator, covering 5’000 SH rice farmers in Cavally. WFP intends to expand its coverage in 2024.
• Other disaster risk reduction and agricultural projects in Sub Saharan Africa