Despite the importance of the agricultural activities to the Indonesian economy ([13%] of GDP), livelihoods ([34%] of labor force), food security, and poverty reduction, the multiple risks associated with agricultural production – coupled with the general lack of knowledge and outreach to farmers/agriculture sector by financial institutions – have limited the needed levels of investment flows into the sector. Agri-lending in Indonesia accounts for a small portion of total lending, at [5.8%]. The risks aversion towards lending to farmers are well documented, including price fluctuations and...

Martin Kipping, Head of the Climate Policy Division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) shares his views with GIIF on COP26 and Germany’s commitment to strengthening the resilience of poor and vulnerable people through climate and disaster risk finance and insurance solutions. The BMZ has committed some 800 million euros for the InsuResilience Global Partnership and its precursor, the G7 InsuResilience Initiative, since 2015. This year, GIIF received an additional 10 million euros from Germany for the Africa Inclusive Insurance Program. What are your...

On September 21st and 22nd, the online conference ‘Opportunities of Digital Innovation in Insurance in Africa’ was held in French and English. The event was organized by West Africa Business School , the African Bancassurance Academy , led by Obasi Ngwuta (Managing Director), and Mobile Convergence Ecosystems Ltd., led by Jean-Stéphane Gourévitch , its CEO and Founder. With +500 attendees registered for this virtual conference, and over 40 senior executives from major insurers, reinsurers, regulatory authorities, insurtech start-up’s, global management consulting and law firms, the conference...

According to the research from ISF Advisor (2018), only 20% of smallholder farmers in the developing countries have access to agricultural insurance coverage, and in sub-Saharan Africa this falls further to just 3%. Blockchain is a transformative Information and Communications Technology (ICT) that have the potential to revolutionize how data is used for agriculture insurance and enable smallholder-inclusive value chain development. Blockchains are essentially immutable digital ledgers that can be used to securely record all transactions taking place on a given network. Such technological...

The livestock sector supports livelihoods of some 60% of rural households made up of 1.7 billion people worldwide. Currently, the World Bank has US$1.9 billion in active investments in improving livestock sector and enhancing pastoral livelihoods mostly in Africa, South Asia and Central Asia. The Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly, has a strong tradition of animal rearing. Livestock sector contributes to one-third to half of agriculture GDP in many Sahelian countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as well as Mauritania and Chad. Despite pastoralism being a major economic...

In the previous part , we brought to your attention rural women’s needs to access to insurance, and related research to better understand the importance of gender-responsive insurance products to mitigate women’s financial and health risks. In this Part II, we’ll provide detailed information on emerging trends on this topic. Digital financial services A 2019 study by CTA and Dalberg Advisors found nearly 400 different digital agriculture solutions working across the continent reaching 33 million registered farmers, demonstrating the market potential. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has...

In recent decade, an increasingly number of insurtech solution firms, mobile network operators and other innovators are brought into the insurance industry to harness power of new data and technology to catalyze innovation to reduce costs and increase client value. As one of the key pillars of the GIIF Program, innovation is central to realize the full potential of GIIF in closing the last mile protection gap with the aim to increase livelihoods of farmers and low-income families through improved access to knowledge, institutions (financial services and inputs, etc.) and markets. In July 2019...

This 2-part article focuses on rural women’s needs to access to insurance, and related research to better understand the importance of gender-responsive insurance products to mitigate women’s financial and health risks. In this Part, you will read about the current context with references to research and emerging trends. Part II will provide a deeper view of these trends in the agricultural insurance sector, with examples from the field. Worldwide, women represent an emerging customer segment for insurance with high growth potential, and there is an increasing interest among insurers and...

One billion out of the world’s 1.2 billion youth (age 15-24) live in developing countries. Africa will represent the youngest region in the 21 st century at the time when the western population continues to age and by 2050, one-third of global youth will be in Sub-Saharan Africa. IFAD predicts that Africa’s share of the global rural youth population is expected to rise from 20% to 37% in the next 30 years , and agriculture remains the main source of employment for them in most low and middle-income countries. Of the 25 million young people entering the labor market in the region every year,...

Although the industry direct and indirect losses from COVID-19 have not been studied systematically, 2020 marked a difficult and transformative year for the insurance sector. As part of containment measures imposed by the governments to curb the spread of the virus, economies worldwide were forced into lockdown causing inevitable second-order effects of supply chain disruptions, business closure, loss in income and jobs leading to third-order effects of poverty and food insecurity intensifying in the vulnerable communities. In fact, using the latest dataset, the World Bank recently released...