ACRE Africa Weather Index Covers

Target SDGs

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household, NGOs

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

The initial project Kilimo Salama was funded by Syngenta Foundation, and later evolved to a for profit company ACRE (Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd.).

Manufacturing/Building Method

N/A

Intellectural Property Type

Trade Secret

User Provision Model

Users can obtain the service by contacting ACRE Africa. Smallholder farmers need to provide physical location, acreage and the risks they would like to cover.

Distributions to Date Status

Cumulatively estimated 1.7mil to have been served across the target regions

Design Specifications

Mobile phone technology is essential for the service. M-PESA mobile banking system keeps index insurance premiums affordable for smallholder farmers. Farmers receive their index insurance policy numbers and premium receipts via SMS, and payouts likewise are sent electronically via M-PESA. The farmer is provided with a term sheet that indicates the technical features of the product indicating the parameters to be used to trigger a loss per crop stage. i.e the rainfall level that indicates a loss at either germination, vegetation, flowering, and maturity (dry down). ^{Interview with representative} The farmer enters a unique code to register for insurance. ACRE Africa monitors the weather at the farmer’s location. An insurance payment is triggered if the weather index indicates the occurrence of adverse weather conditions at the germination phase.

Product Schematics

Technical Support

Users can contact the manufacturer.

Replacement Components

N/A

Lifecycle

N/A

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

Reduce the risk from adverse weather and thereby provide a safety net for farmers, promoting increased agricultural investment and improved livelihood

Vetted Performance Status

Syngenta claims that insured farmers earned 16% more income compared to their uninsured counterparts.

Safety

N/A

Complementary Technical Systems

M-PESA

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

Unknown

Evaluation methods

Evaluated for size of loan portfolio to farmers and index insurance premium income (data from 2011)

Other Information

None