The Syngenta Foundation aims to deepen and strengthen the ‘safety-nets of smallholders in Africa and Asia through market-led upscaling of agricultural insurance solutions. The innovative products aim to reduce risks associated with climate, weather, pests, and diseases. As a result, smallholders become more productive and resilient to climate-change-related shocks. They also reduce their vulnerability to risks exacerbated by climate change. These improvements lead to enhanced food security, growing income, and inclusive rural growth.
AIS’s team takes a lead in market research in new areas to build data, product, distribution, and digital infrastructure. The aim is to enable the cost-effective development of microinsurance products and channels for low-cost delivery. As a market ‘think tank’, we aim to innovate, develop and build scalable agricultural insurance through local partnerships and modern digital technologies. We also integrate indigenous smallholder knowledge into product design and distribution.
Insurance improves loans access for smallholders
In order to achieve the desired impact, the Syngenta Foundation’s AIS team works with multiple stakeholders. Our market development goes through the following phases:
Innovation: Focuses on developing and validating new products that meet smallholder needs. The product range includes a variety of crops and perils designed for different geographies. These products are fine-tuned to specific client risk profiles, distribution channels, and local conditions. The products must be profitable for the insurer and affordable to the farmer. The main activities in this phase include product design, testing, modification, and technology development.
Develop: As a next step, the market for agricultural insurance must be developed. This phase focuses on building the capacity of local supply-side and demand-side partners across the public and private sectors. To increase farmers’ adoption of climate-risk insurance products, we run financial education and awareness campaigns to enhance their financial literacy. This phase also includes policy dialogue at the insurance regulatory level.
Scale: The aim of this phase is to scale up commercially viable and successful products and distribution channels with the aim of reaching as many smallholders as possible.
The Syngenta Foundation builds a bridge between the demand and supply sides of the agriculture insurance market and coordinates various organizations involved. The stakeholders include farmers, cooperatives, the public sector, input suppliers, insurance companies, banks, NGOs, and mobile network operators. The illustration below gives an overview of the different actors and their roles:
SFSA’s work is guided by value chain design thinking. We focus on holistic solutions for smallholders’ financial inclusion. A profound understanding of agricultural risk enables the development of customized insurance products using mobile technology. These are bundled with agricultural advisory services, weather data, access to quality inputs, and credit. Our team has already developed, tested, and refined a diverse portfolio of agricultural insurance products.
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We are operating according to this mentioned approach in various countries.
