Call for Experts - Agriculture Insurance
IESC is seeking a volunteer with expertise in agriculture/crop insurance to support an anticipated assignment focused on access to finance for smallholder farmers in Tanzania.
Description of the Program:
Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC) serves as the lead implementer for the Farmer-to-Farmer Access to Finance Program (F2F A2F) to address deficits in the financial ecosystem hindering investment and growth in agriculture for individual farmers, as well as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises through the delivery of volunteer technical assistance. IESC has designed a thematic F2F program to generate sustainable, broad-based economic growth and create jobs in the agricultural sector with a special focus on assistance to women and youth. Focusing on Kenya, Tanzania, and Liberia, the F2F A2F Program will work with local partner organizations and volunteer hosts to field pro bono experts from the U.S. agriculture, corporate, and banking sectors to address systemic capacity constraints for farmers and lenders in each targeted country and unlock finance for improved agricultural production leading to utilization of agricultural technologies and increased sales and incomes.
Problem Statement:
Despite all the economic potential the agricultural sector has in Tanzania, still the formal financial sector perceives agriculture as a risky sector to finance, especially in primary production with small holder farmers. The agricultural sector in Tanzania is characterized by different setbacks including natural calamities and small holder farmers rely on rain for their farming activities. These increasing risks make financial institutions reluctant to finance the sector. In Tanzania, crop insurance is a new financial de-risking tool within the banking sector with the objective of systematically increasing access to finance for agriculture and smallholder farmers. Some financial institutions have raised a need to have crop insurance cover to their loans so as they extend more loans to smallholder farmers with a quarantined loan recovery regardless of any natural risks.
The overall challenge of successful crop insurance in Tanzania is expertise to design and develop reasonable crop insurance products, especially pricing or premium setting. Insurance companies are copying and adopting the same practices utilized in other countries despite the difference in the lending environment. One insurance company in Tanzania is offering crop insurance for various crops including horticulture, and it is working with a few financial institutions to offer such services to smallholder farmers. This helps farmers to access loans with minimal collateral requirements and enable more youth and women to be in a position to access loans.
This insurance company has expressed interest in receiving technical support from F2F A2F Program to train its staff in the process of developing crop insurance products, including pricing mechanisms with consideration of the local context.
Competencies Requested: