Oromia Insurance Makes Historic Payout to Farmers


Oromia Insurance S.C. facilitated a 39 million Br payout in claims to Amhara Regional State farmers who suffered crop losses due to pest and drought. The initiative involved key stakeholders including the World Food Program (WFP), the Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI), Pula Advisors, Agriculture and Finance ministries, and German development organisations. Spearheaded by Pula Advisors, the program has reached over 122,000 smallholder farmers, providing insurance against climate risks and diseases. With an ambitious target of 7.5 million farmers, the project offers comprehensive initial coverage, focusing on crucial inputs like fertiliser. Dagmawi Haile, Pula's Country Manager, anticipates expansion into Oromia and Tigray regional states in the coming year. He said the initiative has the potential to improve insurance penetration in Ethiopia's agricultural sector, which currently contributes less than one percent to the GDP. "As more farmers participate, premiums will decrease," he told Fortune.


Radar

Yirgalem Hospital Inaugurates New Oxygen Production Plant

A new oxygen production plant has been inaugurated at Yirgalem Hospital Medical College in Sidama Regional State. The launch was attended by the regional state's chief administrator Desta Ledamo and Health Minister Mekdes Daba (PhD). Desta noted that a new kidney dialysis centre will soon be opened as well. Mekdes stated that the Ministry is working to increase the number of oxygen production facilities from the current 10 to 34 nationwide. The Yirgalem plant cost 86 million Br to build and h...


Radar

Corridor Develops with Parking, Recklessness Concerns, Research Finds

Research involving 400 respondents across four first-round corridor development routes revealed major challenges to the initiative. The study, conducted by Shaka Analytics and ETC Institute in collaboration with the Addis Abeba City Transport Bureau, examined the impact of the program on transportation patterns, transit accessibility, and parking availability. The routes—Arat Kilo to Bole Deldey, Embassy of England to Arat Kilo, Mexico roundabout to Wello Sefer, and Piassa to Arat Kilo—we...


Radar

Digitalisation Spreads to the Court System

Ethio telecom and the Amhara Regional State Supreme Court have agreed to implement a Smart Court project in Bahir Dar to modernize court operations using digital technology. This agreement includes building a modern network infrastructure, implementing cloud services, creating a modular data centre, establishing a network operations control centre, and connecting the region's courts with a secure digital network. The project is designed to facilitate secure digital information exchange betwee...