Insurers, insurance regulators and governments cannot be satisfied with what has been achieved so far in agricultural insurance, says Dr Corneille Karekezi, group managing director and CEO, Africa Re.
Agricultural insurance is not the only factor that can improve food security, according to Mr Gael Certain, head - Agriculture EMEA, and Mr Mario Wilhelm, head - Middle East & Africa Public Sector Solutions, both of Swiss Re.
The top three risks to agriculture in several African countries are drought, followed by floods and extreme weather due to global warming, according to the results of a survey commissioned by the African Insurance Organisation (AIO).
There is a huge potential to grow agricultural insurance business on the African continent but there is a need for further support from governments and insurers to raise their level of performance to cater to the needs of farmers, said speakers at the 49th Conference and General Assembly of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO).
Algeria has begun work on launching parametric insurance to cover crops against certain natural disasters (drought, forest fires, etc), Mr Benseidi Abdallah, CEO of the reinsurer, Compagnie Centrale de Re´assurance (CCR), has said.
Henan-headquartered Zhongyuan Agricultural Insurance plans to increase its registered capital by CNY1,891m ($269m) from CNY2,089.8m to around CNY4bn by inducting two new investors which are state-owned enterprises.
InsurTech Igloo is planning to expand its offering of weather index crop insurance products in Vietnam after a promising start with rice farmers in the country. The company is now expanding its blockchain-based parametric weather index insurance to coffee farmers and is looking to cover larger plots of land.
The South Korean government is working to improve insurance pricing for agricultural insurance to better reflect risk levels of farmers, according to a blog published by Korean Re.
Agricultural insurance mutual, Caisse Nationale de Mutualité Agricole (CNMA) reported a turnover of more than DZD13bn ($96m) in 2022, an increase of 3% over 2021, CNMA CEO, Mr Cherif Benhabiles, has indicated.
The CBIRC has published a trial actuarial regulation that sets out how agricultural insurance products are to be priced based on the risk profiles of different regions. The trial rules take effect on 1 September 2023.