Nov 26 , 2022
Farmers are on the way to acquiring agricultural insurance, a scheme designed to prepare them for production loss from natural calamities. A discussion has been held between the Ministry of Agriculture and African Risk Capacity (ARC), a specialised agency of the African Union (AU), to sign an agreement with an insurance and technology company, PULA. ARC has provided insurance to over 30 million farmers in Africa since 2012. Says the CEO, Lesley Ndovu: “Insurance is an ideal instrument to protect farmers and the GDP of Ethiopia and other African countries." Representatives of the trio met last week at the Skylight Hotel on African Avenue (Bole Road). The discussion focused on improving national coordination for disaster response with early warning and preparedness against disasters that affect the sector, such as droughts, floods and locusts. Over 18 million Ethiopian farmers cultivated cereals on 10.5 million hectares of land two years ago, harvesting 30.2 million tonnes, according to data from the UN Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) initiated an engagement between officials of the Ministry and representatives of ARC six months ago to examine ways of covering local farmers from losses. The agricultural insurance scheme will be provided through the input voucher, a distribution system developed by the ATI, cooperating with the Ministry and financial institutions. The system has been effective for the past nine years and provided inputs to seven million farmers last year. Oumer Hussein, minister of Agriculture, said that the signing would set out the terms and conditions to facilitate cooperation between the parties. The minister said they would be working with financial institutions and farmers to develop and deliver the scheme to be ready in the coming harvesting season. "It's time for the government to be involved in providing a relevant insurance solution to build our farmers’ resilience," said Oumer
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