Farmers go for insurance to cut losses, mitigate climate change

Farmers in Rift Valley are quickly embracing crop insurance to increase production and mitigate losses caused by several factors including drought.

Small-scale and large-scale farmers have partnered with various organisations to take insurance cover.

Apollo Agriculture, an organisation that helps smallholder farmers maximise their profits and harvests by financing them with high-yield farming inputs, in partnership with Pula Advisers and APA Insurance Limited has announced a crop insurance payout amounting to Sh19 million.

It will benefit more than 3,000 farmers in Kericho, Narok and Nyandarua counties.

Apollo’s chief customer officer and co-founder Benjamin Njenga said they have partnered with the farmers to sustain production.

“Optimising Africa’s agriculture for increased productivity, climate resilience, and food security is our driving force at Apollo. Our mission is to ensure smallholder farmers can unlock the economic value of their land by empowering them to improve their productivity through access to credit, inputs and services,” he said.

Njenga said together with insurance partners, they had helped to reduce the risk of farmers suffering major losses due to factors outside of their control such as severe drought and unpredictable rain patterns.

“Apollo has helped many farmers secure crop insurance, which has gone a long way towards cushioning them from these drought and weather events by compensating those who have been affected,” he said.

The official spoke at Kipkelion in Kericho county where some farmers received their insurance payouts after their farming activities were affected by drought last year.

Njenga said Apollo had over the years helped farmers access a stable supply of quality inputs. The inputs include high-quality fertiliser, seeds and other value chains, alongside offering financing, insurance, agrochemicals and training.

“Apollo supports farmers throughout the planting season and ensures every farmer, everywhere, has the tools they need to get profit,” he said.

The firm said it uses machine learning and automated operations technology to help small-scale farmers access everything they need to maximise their profitability, from financing, and insurance, to farming products and optimised agronomic advice.

Also present was Nicholas Ocholla from Pula who said they were involved in designing insurance products that can be used to support farmers.

“It’s important that more farmers register for crop insurance because with climate change the effects of weather on farming are unpredictable,” he said.

Samuel Njuguna from Apollo said they had paid out Sh5.8 million to about 859 farmers in areas such as Kipkelion and Londiani who were affected by drought last year.