By Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Accra, Oct. 29, GNA – The Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) is promoting an innovative insurance product, the Germination Index Insurance (GII), to protect farmers against seed germination failure resulting from prolonged drought or excessive rainfall.
Mr Samuel Orison Yarney, Marketing Officer of GAIP, said the product was designed to address climate-related risks at the beginning of the farming season to help farmers recover quickly when planted seeds fail to germinate.
He was speaking at a two-day online engagement attended by representatives of various insurance companies operating in the country.
The meeting, organised under the TEMBO Africa Project, was hosted by the Ghana Insurance University College (GIC) and GAIP on the topic: “Introduction to Agricultural Insurance in Ghana: An Overview of the Agricultural Insurance Value Chain.”
The TEMBO Africa Project is funded by the European Union in partnership with Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, with the University for Development Studies (UDS), the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO), the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), Farmerline Ghana and other institutions supporting it in Ghana.
The GII project is being implemented by GAIP, under the Ghana Insurers Association, in collaboration with TU Delft, TAHMO, GMet and other partners.
Mr Yarney said under the policy, farmers whose seeds fail to germinate due to adverse weather conditions would receive compensation to cover the costs of seeds and ploughing, enabling them to replant within the stipulated planting window.
“The idea is to resource the farmers to be able to buy seeds and replant within the planting window,” he said.
Mr Yarney said farmer education and sensitisation programmes had been conducted in 41 districts across the Oti, Bono East, North East and Upper East regions, as well as parts of the Northern region, reaching a total of 4000 farmers.
He noted that the product had been piloted among maize, soybean, and rice farmers in the Northern and Upper West regions to strengthen their resilience against climate shocks.
According to him, extensive awareness campaigns were ongoing, while jingles were being developed in five local languages to aid the education of farmers on the benefits of insuring their seeds within the communities.
He explained that the policy provided support within a 21-day planting window, allowing affected farmers to be able to afford the seed and replant after germination failure and avoid losing an entire farming season.
Mr Yarney observed that the intervention was particularly important in the Northern region, where farmers generally have only one cropping season and, therefore, depend heavily on favourable weather conditions and quality seeds for successful production.
He said the scheme primarily targets smallholder farmers in rural communities who depend on rain-fed agriculture and are highly vulnerable to weather-related risks.
He said the benefits of the GII included protecting part of farmers’ initial production investments, reducing financial losses associated with poor germination, boosting confidence in agricultural production, and improving access to agricultural finance.
He noted that reliable weather information remained critical to the successful implementation of the policy.
Mr Yarney explained that weather and rainfall data for the insurance product were being provided by GMet with technical support from TAHMO and UDS.
He said high-resolution rainfall data collected using installed stations by TAHMO and GMet, merged with satellite data, were used to support the operation and administration of the insurance scheme.
Mr Yarney identified GAIP, UDS, TAHMO, GMet, and TEMBO Africa as the key technical partners supporting the implementation of the GII policy under the TEMBO Africa Project in Ghana.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah