Bangladesh: Govt to decide on nationwide crop insurance scheme
Source: Asia Insurance Review | May 2017
A pilot crop insurance scheme for Bangladesh’s climatically vulnerable farmers has been oversubscribed and would help the government to decide to introduce the cover nationwide.
Introduced by Sadharan Bima Corporation with financing from the Asian Development Bank, a total of 6,772 marginal farmers signed up for the Weather Index Based Crop Insurance plan against the target of 6,000, reported The Daily Star.
The ADB-administered programme allows a farmer to claim compensation from the insurer when certain climatic trigger points are hit, such as cyclone or tropical storm in a given area hits a specified magnitude or when rainfall rises above or drops a certain level. A new weather index in conjunction with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department was generated using weather data for the past 25-30 years.
For the pilot, drought-prone Rajshahi, flood-prone Sirajgonj and cyclone-prone Noakhali were selected. The pilot programme will end on 30 June, and based on its inferences the government will decide whether it will roll out crop insurance on a nationwide basis.
The project cost BDT213.4 million (US$2.6 million), of which BDT163.8 million was provided by the ADB and rest by the government. A