Africa Re, a pan-African reinsurance company based in Nigeria, has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to bring Nigerian insurers closer to smallholders.
The agreement provides that Africa Re will receive support from IFC to provide technical assistance to licensed insurers to subscribe index products, thereby helping them to expand their business.
In this way, insurers will benefit from Africa Re’s means of developing agricultural insurance products and deepening their index insurance business. These indexed insurance products will help protect farmers from environmental risks such as drought, floods, irregular rainfall and other natural hazards.
“We are pleased to partner with the IFC to help Nigerian insurers develop appropriate insurance products to protect smallholders. This initiative will certainly enable Nigeria to achieve its food security goal and is in line with the company’s mission to support Africa’s economic development, “said Ken Aghoghovbia, Deputy Director General and Director of Operations at Africa Re.
IFC Country Manager for Nigeria, Eme Essien, said, “60% of Nigerians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Affordable and accessible risk management tools, such as index insurance, are needed to help farmers mitigate the effects of climate shocks, protect them from catastrophic losses, and free up access to finance. ”
It should be noted that IFC and Africa RE aim to provide thousands of farmers with access to insurance by the end of 2020.
