PULA Advisors AG in partnership with Leadway Assurance Company LTD, Heifer International, and AFEX have commenced the 2023 wet season insurance claims payment under the "Naija Unlock Signature Programme."
The programme was coordinated by Heifer International in conjunction with AFEX and her network of rice, maize, soya and ginger smallholder farmers across Niger, Kaduna, Jigawa, Plateau, Kebbi and Jigawa states.
As the programme's principal insurer, Leadway Assurance paid N110 million in claims to AFEX on behalf of its ginger growers in Kaduna State, who lost all harvest to the ginger blight outbreak.
A total 1,138 of these ginger farmers were verified for compensation and payments for their huge harvest losses. It was made possible by Heifer International, which pre-financed the insurance premiums of farmers participating under the AFEX 2023 wet season faming programme at the start of the planting season.
Heifer pre-financing model allowed for farmers to be insured during the farming season but deferred their payment for insurance services post-harvest when they are financially buoyant to pay for it.
PULA Advisors, a key player in the agricultural insurance innovation, streamlined the claims assessment and payout process, ensuring transparency and efficiency in delivering financial support to farmers who suffered losses.
Heifer Project International, a global non-for-profit organisation, pre-financed the insurance premiums for the farmers at the beginning of the season, providing a post-harvest repayment option.
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Leadway Assurance Company Limited, with over 50 years' experience in protecting livelihoods through comprehensive insurance coverages, has once again demonstrated its competence in servicing farmers' claims; and by so doing providing climate resilience and sustainability for smallholder farmers' businesses thereby contributing to the food security of the nation.
AFEX, one of the largest commodity players in Nigeria, works with an expansive network of farmers and processors, providing them with the capital, infrastructure and market access needed, to support food productivity. AFEX's innovative value-chain financing model leverages on insurance to protect their investments and indemnify their raw-material agricultural supply chain against crop losses.
The partnership has enjoined its collective aspiration towards expanding this engagement and ensuring that more Nigerian smallholder farmers are registered and insured during the 2024 Farming Season.
Farmers and investors involved in the production value chains are therefore advised to take advantage of this partnership and have their projects insured against climatic and other risks during the 2024 wet season and beyond.
