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Microfinance and Index Insurance: Testing Business Models in the Agricultural Sector

Author: 
Rachel Sberro-Kessler ( Global Index Insurance Facility)
Topics: 
General
Weather index
Other
While access to credit is a key instrument to alleviate rural poverty, microfinance institutions (MFIs) are often unable to expand their agriculture lending portfolio. One of the key constraints that MFIs face is the exposure of agriculture lending to shocks such as drought, flood, or locust which can put farmers in a situation where they are unable to repay their loans. Major agriculture shocks can indeed lead to loan defaults and bank runs therefore resulting in destruction of risk capital, reduced access to liquidity, decreased lending and sometimes insolvency. Evidence shows that credit...
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Lending Stability to the Farming Structure in Sri Lanka

Content owner: 
GIIF - World Bank Group
Topics: 
General
Product design
Weather index
Area yield
For eight years, Chandrasiri Vanasunder, a small holderfamer in the Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka, bore the losses caused by drought and excess-rainfall on his 2-acre tea estate. But all that begun tochange in 2012, when a sales representative from Sanasa told him about ‘index-based insurance’ for tea plants. “As soon as I heard about the product, I knew that this was a good product. I have suffered severe losses in the past, and this seemed like a smart idea to help me prepare for future uncertainty.” Vanasunder’s judgment proved right, as approximately half -way through the last season,...
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Weathering the Risks: Scalable Weather Index Insurance in East Africa

Topics: 
General
Weather index
Product distribution
Having enough food in East Africa depends largely on the productivity of smallholder farms, which in turn depends on farmers’ ability to invest in their farms. Weather insurance can encourage farmers to make these critical investments by improving their access to credit. The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF)—an IFC/IBRD collaboration housed under IFC’s Access to Finance’s Global Retail/Microfinance Cluster—is an innovative program that is expanding access to insurance against weather risks and natural disasters to farmers, livestock herders, and others, particularly in Africa and the...
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G20 Mexico 2012: Agriculture Vice Ministers / Deputies Meeting REPORT

Topics: 
General
Product design
Weather index
Under Mexico’s G20 Presidency, Vice Ministers/Deputies of Agriculture from the countries of the G20, and invited countries1 (the “G20 Agriculture Group”) met in Mexico City with the aim of articulating goals, focusing efforts and establishing sound commitments to address food security challenges under a global perspective.
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Government Support to Agricultural Insurance: Challenges and Options for Developing Countries

Author: 
Olivier Mahul, Charles J. Stutley
Topics: 
General
Agriculture remains a source of livelihood for almost half of humanity. It is also a source of growth for national economies and can be a provider of investment opportunities for the private sector. However, millions of poor people face prospects of tragic crop failure or livestock mortality when, as a result of climate change, rainfall patterns shift or extreme events such as drought and floods become more frequent. Agricultural insurance is key in assisting farmers, herders, and governments lessen the negative financial impact of these adverse natural events.
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