I4 Latest Publications

An audit rule should ensure that index insurance contracts based on remotely measured data offer the same protection as contracts based on area-yield measurements.

The study on a hypothetical area yield index insurance contract in Ecuador found that for most farmers in the sample, the area yield index insurance would have performed equally well or much better at the same dollar-for-dollar cost compared to the existing conventional insurance contract.

The typical challenges of basis risk and low uptake have plagued index insurance products for years, but AMA Innovation Lab researchers are crafting solutions by designing innovations around the structure of the insurance contracts. 

Improving index insurance products, contract design, marketing and policy can contribute to delivering on its promise of promoting independence, prosperity and resilience among these smallholder farmers.

Our results suggest that insuring agricultural loans significantly increases access to credit for these farmers. 

On average, AMA Innovation Lab researchers find that after the drought, insurance leads to a 36 percent decrease in sales of remaining livestock, and a 25-percent reduction in household meal consumption.

With new drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties ready to go to market, and with our growing knowledge of how to design effective insurance products for small-scale agriculture, now is an opportune moment to close this critical knowledge gap.

Researchers supported by the Feed the Future Assets & Market Access Innovation Lab launched an Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) pilot in the Marsabit District of northern Kenya.

BASIS researchers, in partnership with leading geo-spatial software engineering firm (SI Organization), developed a potential solution to these problems by using satellite information at high resolution, coupled with better modeling approaches, to reduce basis risk and improve index insurance performance.

Index insurance shows considerable promise, especially in settings like the arid and semi-arid lands of east Africa where conventional insurance to cover potentially catastrophic herd losses does not exist.