Access via sign-up on the event app or by invitation only. English-French-Portuguese translation available.
Climate shocks caused substantial damage to a third of Africa’s overwhelmingly rain-fed farm plots between 2008 and 2019, deterring commercial banks from smallholder lending. Index insurance tied to rainfall or yield triggers could protect farmers from natural disasters, which cost Africa $3bn in 2025 alone, and reduce lending risk. However, uptake of first-generation products since the early 2000s remains “disappointingly low”, especially without government-subsidised premiums, a July 2025 World Bank study found. NGOs have also highlighted “major defects” in payout triggers after Malawi’s 2016 drought insurance failed to pay out immediately despite widespread crop failure. Insurers, bankers and agtechs examine how to scale affordable index insurance through truer-to-life triggers and smartphone delivery.
Key points
- How can commercial banks, fintechs and agtechs bundle index insurance into smartphone-based credit lines?
- What public-private mechanisms are required to subsidise premiums and scale reliable, satellite-based remote sensing data?
- How can insurers overcome basis risk to ensure payouts reflect real on-farm climate impacts accurately?