Connecting agricultural insurance to meet farmers’ needs – success stories and lessons

Weather-based insurance has the potential to benefit farmers by assisting them to withstand the effects of climate change. Through the provision of an insurance cover against erratic weather, farmers can be protected against food insecurity and hunger. Pilot projects on insurance have been implemented in different forms by a number of actors in various geographical areas. Some successes have been recorded and lessons have been learnt. In the new effort to scale up weather insurance, it is critical that it responds to the felt needs of farmers and the particular challenges that they face. In efforts to scaling-up weather insurance beyond pilots on a limited scale, farmers’ needs must be central to its design and implementation. The parallel session will focus on connecting insurance to farmers’ needs by (i) identifying the key critical needs of the various groups of farmers, (ii) tease out key lessons learnt from past and on-going insurance, (iii) address gaps in the design and implementation of weather insurance and, (iv) identify specific approaches to promote inclusive weather insurance.