The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced a plan to provide insurance for more than 40 million farmers as the continent battles the devastating impact of climate change.

Development Diaries reports that the President of AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, revealed this at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to Adesina, the Africa Climate Risk Insurance Facility for Adaptation (ACRIFA) will provide high-risk capital and grants to support the African insurance industry.

The facility is designed to protect farmers and countries against catastrophic weather-related events and to stimulate private-sector investment in agriculture by mitigating risks.

‘We have to support farmers, not abandon them, in the face of rising frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like drought, floods and pest infestation’, Adesina said.

‘We need to ensure that farmers and actors along the agricultural value chain are covered by insurance at scale’.

He added that over 97 percent of farmers in Africa do not have agricultural insurance.

‘Their only insurance is to pray… when they plant that it will rain. Pray when they harvest that there will not be rains or pest devastation and pray when they market their crops that prices will not collapse’, he said.

‘The eyes of more than 40 million smallholder farmers in Africa are on us. Let us make ACRIFA the answer to their prayers’.

Africa is highly vulnerable to changes in global climatic conditions due to its low adaptive capacity and sensitivity to changes in climatic variables, particularly in the agricultural sector, hence, there is a need for a robust protection mechanism for farmers.

Photo source: UNDP Climate