In Ethiopia, 8 million poor farmers are already allowed to work a set number of days in exchange for government payments. To pay for insurance they add a few days of work, with donor governments or others backing the insurance programmes.
As families become more financially stable and better able to withstand climate shocks, WFP hopes they will eventually be able to pick up the bill for insurance themselves, Choularton said.
The HARITA insurance programme has now attracted 13,000 policy holders in 43 villages, up from 200 policy holders in one village in 2009, Choularton said, with about 20 to 30 percent of the farmers in each village taking part.
With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, WFP now aims to expand the programme to three more countries, with the aim of covering 72,000 households by 2016, he said.
”This looks to be a pretty smart WFP innovation to encourage insurance take up. I wonder if they can include other education opportunities through this scheme or provide other services.
Via AlertNet
