Gov’t launches farmers’ insurance scheme

The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, yesterday officially launched the farmers’ insurance scheme known as Hinga Urishingiwe.The initiative is expected to cushion farmers against losses caused by unfavourable weather conditions like drought.The programme is being implemented in partnership with Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Development (SFSA); a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland.The organisation aims at promoting value-addition for smallholder farmers in developing countries.Others in the partnership are One Acre Fund, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and Soras Insurance Company.Speaking during the launch, the Executive Director of SFSA, Dr. Marco Ferroni, said Automated Weather Stations will be installed in various areas for the farmers.“These stations will be used to get weather related information which will be stored and become a basis for farmers to be compensated in case of unfavourable climatic conditions,” said Ferroni. The information will determine whether a farmer`s harvest was affected by weather, or not.However, it will require insured farmers to respect or fulfil the required obligations as regards the right farming practices. “This does not mean that farmers will be compensated even when the loss is evident that they were engaged in poor methods of farming, but will base on purely weather effects,” he told The New Times shortly after the launch.He observed that there are currently low levels of investment in the agricultural sector due to fear by lenders of the risk involved mainly due to changes in the weather conditionse.SFSA has been operating in this field for over the ten years. It has operations in Uganda and Kenya, where it has insured over 73,000 farmers. It has made insurance payouts to 10,000 farmers.The pilot project that is to benefit farmers from the Southern and Western Province has already attracted 20,000 farmers. The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Agnes Kalibata, called on farmers to join others who have already insured, urging that the programme will in future be rolled out across the country.“We are giving farmers more options to make sure that they can overcome challenges faced due to changes in weather, as most farmers entirely depend on rainfall,” said Kalibata.She promised that although the pilot project will only consider farmers in beans and maize production, it will with time benefit farmers in various crops.For a farmer to be insured, he or she has to pay Rwf 1,000 annual insurance premium per year. Farmers who are already insured are optimistic that the programme will support them to cover-up financial losses they have been incurring in the past.“As farmers, especially small scale farmers who can not afford irrigation systems, therefore, our harvest entirely depends on rainfall. Any changes seriously affect our harvest,” said Bernardin Niyonshuti, a farmer in Rusatira Sector, Huye district.

National

Gov’t launches farmers’ insurance scheme