Farmers should make use of rural insurance scheme

Recently, the Financial Sector Development Secretariat in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture came up with the national rural insurance strategy. The strategy which is expected to be implemented in six months time, aims at increasing access of financial services by the rural community which is dominated by agriculture. Over 1.4 million Rwandans are living in rural areas and 90 per cent of the Rwandan household families survive on agriculture which translates into a big market force for the insurers in Rwanda. And although the farmers play the most pivotal role in the economic growth, financial institutions have always left out this class of clients because of perceived risk. The strategy addresses Life, health and agriculture risks. At least farmers for the first time should expect main agriculture risks like drought, floods, or financial risks like inflation and market risk are to be covered by the insurance companies. This will also support the Micro Finance Institutions who have the largest access to the rural community. The advantage is that the strategy has been developed by the public sector which makes it vital in addressing risks that affect agricultural production, and allow the private sector to develop insurance products for less severe events and for individual, independent farm risks. Health insurance is also important and should be taken serious by the farmers because it provides coverage for illness and accidents resulting in physical injuries. Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) must realise that expenditures related to health problems have been a significant cause of defaults and peoples inability to continue improving their economic conditions. But education of stakeholders is important if our local uninformed and semi informed farmers are to understand the benefits of insuring against these events. Workshops, information packages, media and other mechanisms are needed to explain the characteristics of insurance schemes and the different opportunities available. However the development of financial markets also remains a big challenge. These can be promoted where possible to facilitate saving and borrowing, and complement the insurance scheme that is established. Government must also continue improving the infrastructure related issues like energy, roads, water and the means of communication to so as to lower the costs of business for the insurers. Ends