Agroinsurance

NEWS

Ghana - Govt must encourage agric insurance - New Year School panelists

27.01.2017 191 views

Speakers at the 68th Annual New Year School and Conference have called on the government to formulate a national policy that will make it mandatory for financial institutions to demand an insurance policy from players in the agricultural production value chain before advancing any money for a project.

That, they said, would help boost the confidence level of the financial sector in the agricultural value chain, as well as to scale-up the penetration of agricultural insurance that had seen low patronage since its introduction in 2011. The session was on the topic: Agricultural Financing and Insurance. The General Manager of the Ghana Agricultural Insurance (GAP), Mr Ali Mohammed Kato, the Country Manager of the Agribusiness System International, Dr Betty Annan, the Managing Consultant of IESO Agribusiness Consult, Mr Francis Osei, and the Dean of the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Joshua Abor, spoke at the event. For several decades, Ghana’s agricultural sector has suffered low investments, minimal technological infusion and general neglect, resulting in marginal growth and contribution to national output. From 30.4 per cent in 2006, the sector’s contribution to total economic output, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), has declined to 20.2 per cent in 2015. The drop in the sector’s contribution to GDP can be traced to the steady reduction in its growth rates over the years. After ending 2008 at 7.4 per cent, growth in agriculture resumed a downward trend; dropping to 5.3 per cent in 2010 before peaking at 5.7 per cent in 2013. In 2015, growth in the sector dropped from 4.6 per cent in 2014 to 2.5 per cent, raising questions over the impact of various interventions aimed at lifting it. To help reverse the trend, Mr Kato underscored that the state must put much premium on subsidy to make agricultural insurance products affordable to smallholder farmers in the country. For that to be successful, he said there should be collaboration among state institutions such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Agricultural Insurance Programmes to determine the kind of crops to be insured. Adopting mobile financing For her part, Dr Annan, whose outfit is a nonprofit consulting firm that aligns business interests with those of smallholder producers to confront today’s global challenges, underlined that access to finance was a major challenge in the agricultural sector. “Therefore to save the situation, mobile finance holds a greater potential for promoting financial inclusion, especially with mobile phones increasingly becoming affordable,” she said. She said due to the expensive nature of building bank branches, coupled with difficulty in convincing the ‘unbanked’ to use formal banks, stakeholders must promote mobile financing to provide financial inclusion access to rural under-served agribusiness value chain actors. She noted that farmers have come to appreciate the privacy, efficiency and accountability Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) provides and were now patronising the service. Putting right Policies in place Mr Osei cited that over the years, the sector had been characterised by low productivity and low technology adoption. “As a result, communities in the country are stuck in a cycle of subsistence farming and for many households, low agricultural growth means poverty and malnutrition,” he said. He mentioned lack of access to investment, agricultural technology, markets, poor infrastructure and a short farming season as some of the challenges impeding the growth of the agricultural sector. These challenges, he said, had resulted in reduced yield in the sector despite the ongoing interventions in the form of subsidies and development aid. “Right Policies and actions that address risks associated with agriculture will improve and enhance capacity of financial institutions to lend to agricultural needs” he said. He also called for the development of inclusive agribusiness models to make smallholder financing attractive to financial Institutions in the country. Financing opportunities Prof. Abor said the agriculture sector, though beset by a lot of risks has a lot of financing opportunities that make business sense. Source - http://www.graphic.com.gh

EVENTS

ScaleAgData Stakeholder Engagement Event

22.10.2024

The ScaleAgData project is pleased to invite you to our second stakeholder event. Building on the discussions and connections formed during our first webinar, this event will focus on fostering collaboration among stakeholders, providing updates on our project’s progress, and outlining future opportunities for engagement.

RISK EVENTS

Cyclone Alfred causes $11 million crop damage in Australia

20.03.2025

The Australian horticultural sector faced challenges following Cyclone Alfred's impact in late February.

USA - Taylor County farmer arrested for crop insurance fraud

A man in Taylor County, KY, has been sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in federal prison for crop insurance fraud. Between 2014 and 2021, Hunt sold crops under the names of other people and significantly underreported his true production on crop insurance claim forms, resulting in over $1.6 million in fraudulent insurance overpayments.

09.09.2025

India - The changes aim to ensure that farmers are not denied crop insurance benefits due to the default of state governments

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced crucial modifications to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), citing the Centre's experience with the previous Jagan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh. The changes aim to ensure that farmers are not denied crop insurance benefits due to the default of state governments.

13.08.2025

New area-yield index insurance helps farmers tackle climate risks

Land Bank Insurance Company has expanded its pilot “index insurance” product with the introduction of Area-Yield Index Insurance (AYII), designed to help farmers manage financial losses caused by large-scale climatic and environmental risks.

13.08.2025

Lithuania declares nationwide emergency over summer rainfall damage

Lithuania’s government on Wednesday declared a nationwide emergency after weeks of heavy summer rains caused widespread crop losses, following a proposal from the National Crisis Management Centre and the Agriculture Ministry.

13.08.2025

Australia develops world-first biodegradable foot and mouth disease vaccine

The world’s first biodegradable vaccine for foot and mouth disease (FMD) has been developed in Australia, a country that remains free from the dreaded livestock

13.08.2025

USA - Researchers make breakthrough discovery that could transform agriculture: 'This research is important'

Scientists at Iowa State University have determined that co-locating solar panels and certain plants may be beneficial for crop production.

13.08.2025

Fiji - Agriculture ministry tackles food waste

The Ministry of Agriculture is exploring an innovative new approach to reduce food waste by converting post-harvest losses and kitchen scraps into valuable resources like livestock feed and soil enhancers.

13.08.2025

USA - Continuing drought affecting Vermont farmers, especially livestock farms

As dry conditions continue to spread across Vermont, one industry that is feeling the heat is the farms.