In a landmark move to strengthen the resilience of Ethiopian agriculture, the Ethiopian Agricultural Insurance Consortium (AICE) was officially launched, pledging to extend insurance coverage to 3 million smallholder farmers by 2026. This initiative aims to shield farmers from climate-related risks and foster a more investment-friendly agricultural sector.
The consortium unites five leading Ethiopian insurance companies— Nyala Insurance, Africa Insurance, Ethiopian Insurance Corporation, Nile Insurance, and Oromia Insurance—with technical support from Pula Advisors, a global insurtech firm specializing in agricultural insurance solutions. Together, they form a unified platform to collaborate with government agencies, donors, and development partners to transform Ethiopia’s agricultural insurance landscape.
Agriculture accounts for roughly one-third of Ethiopia’s GDP and employs about 85% of the population, yet over 95% of smallholder farmers currently lack formal crop insurance. Recurrent droughts, erratic rainfall, pests, and diseases frequently devastate harvests, forcing families to sell assets, deplete savings, or depend on humanitarian aid. The AICE initiative seeks to break this cycle by scaling affordable, technology-driven insurance products that stabilize farmers’ incomes, unlock credit access, and encourage the adoption of productivity-enhancing inputs such as improved seeds and fertilizers.
The consortium’s first product, “B-crop,” is an environmental index insurance solution designed to protect farmers against systemic hazards like drought, excessive rainfall, pests, and diseases. This product has already been piloted successfully across three regions and more than 200 districts, demonstrating its adaptability to Ethiopia’s diverse agricultural conditions.
AICE’s insurance model is integrated with the government’s Product Input Voucher System (IVS), which helps reduce premiums through risk pooling and government subsidies, making coverage more affordable for farmers. Currently, this model covers over 10 million farmers across more than 200 woredas (districts) at a subsidized cost of approximately 200 birr per farmer.
To address the challenge of limited awareness, the consortium is investing in extensive farmer education programs, including training sessions, nationwide roadshows, SMS and interactive voice response (IVR) messaging, and collaboration with government extension agents to incorporate insurance education into existing advisory services.
Technological innovation is central to the consortium’s approach. Leveraging Pula Advisors’ digital tools such as Mavuno, an AI-powered data collection platform, and the Pula Insurance Engine (PIE) for intelligent product design and policy management, AICE aims to deliver efficient, data-driven insurance services that are responsive to farmers’ needs.
The Ethiopian government has expressed strong support for the consortium. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Bank of Ethiopia, and other stakeholders participated in the launch event, underscoring the importance of financial inclusion and sustainable rural development. The government has also established a Rural Financial Services Unit within the Ministry of Agriculture to coordinate efforts to expand access to agricultural finance and insurance nationwide.
Over recent years, Pula Advisors, in partnership with the Agricultural Transformation Institute and development partners such as the World Food Programme and KfW, has helped nearly one million Ethiopian farmers gain insurance coverage. The consortium builds on this momentum to scale solutions and improve the sector’s technical capacity.
Source - Capital Ethiopia
