- In just over six years of operations, 56 policies have been signed by the ARC member states
- The partnership, which will run for an initial period of three years
The African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC) has partnered with Pula to deliver best-in-class agriculture index insurance products to protect African farmers from climatic risks.
The partnership, which will run for an initial period of three years, will see the two firms work closely in areas of product development, marketing, premium collection and claims disbursements among others.
Lesley Ndlovu, CEO ARC said the collaboration with Pula is necessary to help to promote harmonised resilience solutions for protecting African lives and livelihoods vulnerable to natural disasters caused by climate change and other perils affecting the continent.
“The ARC is expanding its product offerings to African member States currently, and by experience, we have seen that there will always be farmers whose Governments may, by reason of fiscal constraints, not be able to take up an umbrella sovereign disaster risk policy,’’ Ndlovu said.
Under its inclusive growth strategy, ARC Ltd is currently diversifying its risk portfolio to non-sovereign risks in addition to exploring partnerships with private and public sector players to deliver holistic disaster risk financing mechanisms.
Every farming season, African farmers are exposed to a wide range of climate risks including drought, excessive rainfall, pests and diseases, and several other perils that negatively affect their yields.
According to Pula CEO Thomas Njeru, the development insurance approach of the ARC Group resonates with Pula mission to provide an end to end management of the delivery of insurance to farmers, including field operations, farmer onboarding, education and claims assessment and payouts.
''We envisage a win-win partnership that will leverage Pula best in class index insurance products and technology with ARC’s strong partnerships with governments to provide groundbreaking products to 15 million farmers,’’ Njeru said.
He added that in partnering with ARC, they expect to push the boundaries of product performance to customers and radically increase the access to insurance for millions of farmers across Africa, giving them access to the tools they need to become resilient in these challenging times.
In just over six years of operations, 56 policies have been signed by the ARC member states with $83 million (Sh8.3 billion) paid in premiums for cumulative insurance coverage of $641 million (Sh64.1 billion) and the protection of 64.1 million vulnerable populations in participating countries.
These funds have gone towards assisting over 2, 480, 500 million people whose livelihoods rely on agriculture, preventing the loss of hard-earned developmental gains in addition to 1, 295, 189 livestock.
Governments have used ARC insurance payouts to scale up cash transfers, subsidize livestock feeds, replenish depleted food reserves, and distribute emergency food supplies.
Pula on other hand has insured agricultural investments worth $520 million (Sh52 billion) across 11 countries in Africa by working with governments, input companies and credit providers with premium payments of over $18 million (Sh1.8 billion) being made and insurance claim payouts of $5.5 million (Sh550 million.