Latin America & the Caribbean

Feasibility study for cotton and livestock index insurance - Argentina
Argentina’s agriculture sector is very vulnerable to weather risks. For instance, cotton in the Chaco Province - the most important cotton producing area in Argentina and the third poorest province - is very exposed to drought, excess rainfall and pests. Similarly, cattle-rearing in South West Buenos Aires Province is very exposed to droughts which impact severely on pasture production. In 2011, the Government of Argentina through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAGyP), requested the World Bank to conduct a feasibility study for the development of a suitable index-based
Pranav Prashad, Technical Officer at International Labour Organization's Impact Insurance Facility talks about demand for index insurance. This video was shot at the Agriculture Insurance Conference in Berlin 2014.
Jean-Luc Perron, Managing Director of Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance talks about defining and growing the market for index insurance.
Parametric Insurance: A hopeful vision coming to life
Despite representing only a small portion of the total Property & Casualty market, parametric insurance has evolved rapidly in the last decade. This relatively new approach to insurance is index-based. At AXA, we believe that parametric insurance will continue to flourish in the future. Despite representing only a small portion of the total Property & Casualty market, parametric insurance has evolved rapidly in the last decade. This relatively new approach to insurance is index-based. For instance, in some geographies, claims could be paid out based on actual meteorological conditions measured
Climate Corporation Builds Massive Data Platform for Agriculture in the US
According to The Climate Corporation – a tech company based in San Francisco -- data science has the potential to fundamentally improve the productivity and sustainability of global agriculture. Since 2007, the Climate Corporation has been hard at work building a technology platform that combines hyper-local weather monitoring, agronomic data modeling, and high-resolution weather simulations that are updated hourly. On the platform (see www.climate.com), Climate has built products to protect farmers with index-based insurance and improve profits with software that help farmers make more
Dutch Donor Support for Agricultural Insurance
In an interview with the GIIF Team, Aaltje de Roos, Senior Policy Advisor - Department for Sustainable Economic Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, explains why the Netherlands provides substantial donor support for agri-insurance programs in developing countries, including the World Bank Group's Global Index Insurance Facility. Q: What role would the Netherlands like to see the World Bank Group, and specifically GIIF, play in the agri-insurance field over the next 5-10 years? A: The World Bank Group, and GIIF especially, can boost the private insurance branch in
IFC Agri-Insurance Expert Gary Reusche on Public Private Partnerships and Portfolio Approach
Farmers know that there will be years when the crop yields are reduced, or prices will be low. Perhaps they will diversify their crops, depend on livestock, or purchase a system to irrigate their crops. All these are ways to mitigate and reduce their risks. When there is no insurance culture or trust in insurance companies -and insurance companies themselves may not have extensive experience selling agricultural insurance - there is understandably little interest to purchase crop insurance. In such cases, it is the government who is the de facto insurer because crop losses of more than 50
World Bank Group-Led Community of Index-Insurance Practitioners to Enhance Exchange of Knowledge, Expertise
BERLIN, November 27, 2014—The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), an innovative program managed by the World Bank Group, launched today the Index Insurance Forum at the Agricultural Insurance Conference in Berlin. The Index Insurance Forum will serve as a unique forum for knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices among index-insurance practitioners and industry representatives.
ILO and World Bank Group to Enhance Access to Index Insurance in Rural Areas in Africa and Asia
Geneva, Switzerland July 24, 2014 – The International Labour Office (ILO) and the World Bank Group (WBG) have signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to provide access to improved insurance products to hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers, small businesses and individuals in Asia and Africa. The three year partnership is the first-of-its-kind within the rapidly evolving index insurance industry. The Facility and GIIF combine their strengths to improve the delivery of index insurance to farmers and their families as well as businesses, through extraction, dissemination and
World Bank Group Global Index Insurance Facility Receives $25 Million from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The World Bank Group signed an agreement marking the $25 million contribution by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in support of scaling up insurance markets in developing countries over the next five years, thus helping to ensure that agricultural insurance becomes a sustainable business model for smallholder farmers.