About N6.5 billion worth of insurance coverage has been provided for farmers across the country in courtesy of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). This was disclosed by the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed at a Agribusiness Summit held in Lagos.
According to Abdulhameed, NIRSAL had developed and launched the Area Yield Index Insurance product. which protected up to N6.5 billion revenues of over 37,399 farmers, with over N121 million paid out as compensation.
The details: The Area Yield Index Insurance, according to Abdulhameed, covers the expected yield of subsistence farmers as it protects their revenues from losses due to pests, diseases, adverse weather conditions, and disasters.
NIRSAL was said to have achieved the move of Nigerian agricultural insurance from indemnity-based to index-based insurance by involving and working together with local and international insurance operators.
It also has great potential to provide value to low-income farmers and their communities, both by protecting farmers when shocks occur and by encouraging greater investment in crops.