INSURANCE OF AGRICULTURE IS NOT WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE

A farmer inspects maize plants scorched by drought. Insurance companies consider agriculture risky because the sector is dominated by smallholder farmers who face challenges such as vagaries of weather, insecure land ownership, difficulties in accessing capital and farm inputs, unfavourable trade policies and price fluctuations. PHOTO | FILE

By The Citizen Reporter

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Although agriculture is one of Tanzania’s most important economic sectors, it has yet to impress insurers as a worthy client. Only a very few insurance firms have products

related to agriculture today, mostly covering large-scale farmers who use modern tools and methods such as irrigation farming.

Although smallholder farmers comprise the largest number of farmers in Tanzania, they are nonetheless left out in the cold, as insurance coverage for them is considered downright risky.

Reportedly, an insurance scheme was launched back in 2016 to cover smallholder farmers against unfavourable weather conditions in some Lake Zone regions. But whether or not it was sustainable is debatable.

Promoted as Linda Mbegu – Kiswahili for “protect seeds” – the scheme allowed for the replacement in full of seeds purchased by a farmer in case they became unproductive owing to failed rains in that farming season. It is now evident that the insurance regulator is encouraging insurers to come up with products that cover agriculture as a matter of course.

However, these efforts should be accelerated to ensure that Tanzanian farmers are risks-covered regardless. This would also increase the uptake of insurance products and services – thereby growing the industry in particular, and the economy in general.

At some point, agricultural insurance requires involvement of the government to make it more effective

Think of what happened in Kenya on seeking to insure both crops and livestock through partnerships between the government and insurers.

The Kenya government subsidized insurance premiums by 50 per cent in partnership with seven insurers to compensate maize and wheat farmers in the event of shortfalls in expected yields.

Agricultural insurance protects farmers from losses caused by erratic rain patterns, disease outbreaks and perennial drought, all of which are rampant on the back of global warming.

Agri-insurance would help farmers to concentrate on production rather than on possible disasters.

LET’S NOT LOWER OUR GUARD

Today is World Aids Day, and there has been talk in recent months of a potential breakthrough in the search for a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine 38 years after the virus was first identified. The pandemic has caused much misery globally, but especially in developing countries, including Tanzania.

HIV research has come a long way since the virus was isolated and positively identified for the first time in 1983.

Antiretroviral (ARV) therapy was a major milestone that has changed the lives of people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids), and the goal now is to find a reliable cure.

There have been improvements in antiretroviral drugs, and HIV vaccines are underway, but a cure still remains elusive.

Several institutions are working on developing a functional cure which would leave people living with HIV/Aids relatively healthy and medication-free, but without necessarily wiping out the virus. But how close are we to reaching that goal?

The government remains committed to responding to, and mitigating, the effects of HIV/Aids through various campaigns such as voluntary male circumcision, preventing mother-to-child infection and many others. Research findings and news coming through could sound great, but it is not time for anyone to lower their guard yet