Over one million smallholder farmers receive weather-related risks insurance cover

More than one million smallholder farmers have in the last six years received insurance cover against weather related risks.

This has resulted in K200 million being paid out to affected individuals for climate related shocks.

These farmers have received this support through the government’s Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).

The cover has provided a financial safety net for farmers enabling them to recover from financial losses and continue with their agricultural activities, says Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) acting Registrar Namakau Ntini.

Ntini was hopeful that the payouts received over the years had resulted in increased awareness among farmers on the need to build resilience against climate risks, and thus contributing to improved food security and livelihoods.

She said this in Lusaka at the parametric insurance for agriculture and bundling of life and health insurance training workshop on Wednesday.

“Let me start by highlighting the significant progress we have made in providing insurance cover against climatic risks to smallholder farmers in Zambia since 2017.

“Through the government’s Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), more than 1 million farmers have received insurance cover against weather related risks in the last six years,” Ntini said.

She therefore encouraged all stakeholders to continue supporting this programme to ensure that more farmers had access to insurance cover against climate risks.

She pointed out that as a regulator, it had also noted some challenges within industry in terms of adequately providing support to the agricultural sector.

Ntini said these included inadequate data on the agriculture sector, lack of awareness among farmers on the importance of insurance, high costs of insurance premiums, and limited usage of reinsurance capacity.

“These challenges have contributed to low insurance uptake among farmers, which has resulted in limited voluntary insurance coverage for the agriculture sector,” she said.

Ntini also emphasised the need for more insurance players to be involved in the provision of insurance services to the agriculture value chain.

She stated that increased participation from insurers should foster innovative insurance products that were tailored to the specific needs of farmers.

“The involvement of more players in the sector will result in increased competition and innovative products and more coverage for farmers. This will enhance the resilience of the agriculture sector against climate risks,’ she said.

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