In its resolve to help smallholder farmers mitigate harvest losses due to poor weather conditions, pest and diseases, Heifer International has announced the payment of over N100million as insurance compensation from Leadway Assurance to 3,110 smallholder rice farmers operating in Benue and Nasarawa states of Nigeria under its pay-at-harvest Area Yield Index Insurance (AYII) project being a component of Heifer’s Naija Unlock Signature Programme for Nigeria.
AYII was launched in Nigeria in 2021 by Heifer International in partnership with OLAM, Leadway Assurance and PULA, as a solution to mitigate climate change-induced losses among smallholder farmers and restore investors’ confidence in rice farming.
Heifer International is a global nonprofit development organisation on a mission to end hunger and poverty sustainably by working with farmers and their communities to unlock opportunities within the agricultural sector for improved incomes, food security and resilience.
Speaking during the farmers insurance claim payout ceremony held in Makurdi, Benue State, Heifer’s Country Director, Rufus Idris confirmed that a total of 4,358 hectares of farmland belonging to 4,354 smallholder rice farmers in Benue and Nasarawa states were insured during the 2021 wet farming season under the project, among which 3,110 smallholder rice farmers suffered losses due to soil moisture stress.
The affected 3,110 smallholder rice farmers who suffered poor harvests are scheduled to receive a total sum of one hundred and eleven million, three hundred and ninety-eight thousand, eight hundred and ninety-five Naira (N111, 398,895), starting today, as insurance compensation claim to enable them to recover their investments and refinance their insurance premium for another farming season.
According to Mr. Ayoola Fatona, Head Agric and Micro Insurance for Leadway Assurance Limited, an implementing partner for the insurance scheme, “today marks a major milestone in the Nigerian Agriculture Insurance space. Leadway wishes to reiterate our commitment to assisting smallholder farmers in guaranteeing the food security of the nation by leveraging on this type of partnership with Heifer International”. Idris explained that the project is carried out through a pay-at-harvest model that enables participating farmers to pay back the pre-financed premium at harvest when they sell the rice produced to Olam as the off-taker.