By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced plans to provide insurance for farmers against losses arising from climate change through its Africa Climate Risk Insurance Facility for Adaptation (ACRIFA), the bank’s President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, announced at the recently concluded African Climate Summit (ACS) in Nairobi, Kenya.
ACRIFA is an expansion of the Africa Disaster Risk Insurance Program into a facility that will develop insurance to the agriculture value chain across countries of the continent.
“Specifically, their agriculture sectors, prepare for, adapt and build resilience against adverse effects of climate change such as flooding and drought.
‘It will raise an initial one billion dollars of concessionary high-risk capital and grants to catalyse the development and uptake of insurance solutions.
“This will help countries, businesses and communities adapt to climate change,” Adesina said.
The initiative is the bank’s effort to scale up support to insure countries and households against extreme weather patterns, the AfDB chief announced.
According to Adesina, extreme weather patterns negatively impact the livelihoods of millions of farmers in Africa, majority of who are women, even as he noted that one way of tackling this issue is to ensure farmers have access to crop and livestock insurance.
“The Africa Climate Risk Insurance Facility for Adaptation will extend credit insurance to investment portfolios related to climate, agri-food system and enterprise development.
“It will engage primary insurers across Africa to ensure business opportunities flow through them to continental and international re-insurers.
“In addition, it will support national governments to more efficiently manage climate disasters,” he said.
The Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Chairman of the African Union, who spoke at the event described the initiative as a necessary innovation, considering the frequency and impact of national disasters in African countries.
