Crop insurance for farmers likely to boost food security

Thousands of farmers in Moiben, Eldoret have always known that drought comes after every 10 years.

But every once in a while the pattern is broken and they are caught off-guard as was the case in 1984 and in 2009.

However, in the midst of the dark clouds of hunger, there was a silver lining that got them smiling last year— a crop insurance product that promised to change their fortunes.

This is a first for small-scale farmers in Kenya who produce more than 70 per cent of the country’s food output.

Jane Gathoni, a farmer in Nanyuki, was part of the pilot project launched last year that guaranteed farmers compensation for their inputs.

Her story is billed as what lies in store for farmers across Kenya as insurance firms penetrate this new niche.

The insurance product is restricted to certified seeds, fertilizer and farm chemicals — in case of crop failure.

Ms Gathoni’s maize crop failed and the gamble she had taken on crop insurance cover paid off when she and other farmers participating in the pilot project were paid about Sh2,225 or 100 per cent of the cost of inputs.

“It took a lot of convincing to buy the insurance product because of my previous experience with insurers,” said Gathoni, echoing the challenge that insurance companies face in their push to reach a wider clientele base.

Her reluctance stemmed from the information she was given when she first applied for an education cover previously was not correct.

Recently, Ms Gathoni travelled to Moiben to give her testimony to a group of farmers who are now on a pilot project for the same kind of insurance cover.

“We see the insurance cover as a form of caution against poverty,” said Julius Koech, the chairman of Moiben Farmers Marketing Federation. “Farmers do not have to agonise on where to get the money to buy inputs in case of crop failure.”

In Moiben, the average farm size per family is five acres.

Farmers are mostly small-scale though they sell most of their harvest.

In case there is crop failure, as it happened last year, the family income is drastically reduced.