Insurance vital, but no magic bullet to fight drought in Africa.
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More developing countries urgently need insurance to cushion their farmers against weather extremes that can worsen poverty, but it is no magic bullet to ward off the escalating impacts of climate change, experts say.
"Insurance is … (for) when you have done everything you can and there is still a risk you cannot cover," said Beavogui.
Planning for those risks – such as the number of people a government would be unable to help in a crisis – is vital, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Insurance can be triggered more quickly than international aid, which can take months to fund.
ARC’s cover is based on a pre-agreed plan for how the government will use the payout.
Since ARC Ltd began issuing policies in 2014, eight nations have taken out insurance and four – Senegal, Mauritania, Niger and Malawi – have received payouts totaling $34 million.
But while drought last year left 6.5 million people in Malawi in need of food aid, Malawi did not receive an ARC payout until January.
Malawi took out insurance based on a crop – long-cycle maize – that, as it turned out, most farmers did not grow in the 2015/2016 season.
Insurance companies that pay out directly to farmers are still few and far between in many developing countries, and they offer limited services.

By Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is proposing to slash a quarter of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, targeting climate-change programs and those designed to prevent air and water pollution like lead contamination, a source with direct knowledge of the proposal said on Thursday.
President Donald Trump has long signaled his intention to reverse former Democratic President Barack Obama’s climate-change initiatives.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the budget proposal or its counter proposal.
State grants for lead cleanup, for example, would be cut 30 percent to $9.8 million.
Grants to help native tribes combat pollution would be cut 30 percent to $45.8 million.
An EPA climate protection program on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases like methane that contribute to global warming would be cut 70 percent to $29 million.
The proposal would cut funding for the brownfields industrial site cleanup program by 42 percent to $14.7 million.
The Republican-led Congress would have to approve any EPA cuts.
Congress would be unlikely to approve a proposal to cut all staff in a diesel emissions program, for example.
“I want you to know that with the White House and also with Congress, I am communicating a message that the brownfields program, the Superfund program and the water infrastructure grants and state revolving funds are essential to protect,” he said.

In Somaliland, women are being raped as a result of extreme drought and lack of support.
Most women and girls in the camp have been assaulted or raped by gangs,” begins Hodan Ahmedan, 23, sitting in her makeshift shelter where she has lived since she arrived from drought-ridden eastern Somaliland to a camp for internally displaced in Maxamed Mooge, Hargeisa.
While men have found it possible to find jobs in the city, the multitude of dangers the drought has exposed women to – from sexual assaults, to illegal land grabbing, to lack of sanitary facilities – clearly demonstrates that it is the women who are bearing the brunt of the drought and its consequences.
The drought killed my animals.
“If we don’t pay, they set our shelters on fire,” explains Amina, “so many have here have been burnt”.
This camp, like most of the country, receives no humanitarian support from the international community or the government.
“Even our donkeys have died, this is the last one,” he claims.
“We have no water left.
They are lucky, she claims, none have suffered complications yet, but Dacar adds that with no water or food he expects a crisis in the coming days.
“We urgently need water and food, or we will die.” As most Somalilanders have had their very way of life ripped away from them by the drought – and the lack of national and international support – it is the women and most vulnerable who are bearing the brunt.

Water of appropriate quality and quantity is essential for the production of crops, livestock, and fisheries, as well as for the processing and preparation of these foods and products.
Additionally, climate change will have significant impacts on agriculture by increasing water demand, limiting crop productivity, and reducing water availability in areas where irrigation is most needed or has a comparative advantage.
What can agriculture do to address water scarcity in the context of climate change, while ensuring food and nutrition security?
What responses can the agriculture and food sectors offer to alleviate the impacts – and reduce the risks – of water scarcity?
In a bid to tackle the impact of global water scarcity, FAO launched the Global Framework for Action to Cope with Water Scarcity in Agriculture in the Context of Climate Change.
Agriculture holds the key to coping with water scarcity as it is responsible for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals.
The sustainable intensification of food production, with more efficient water management systems adapted to climate variability and local circumstances, can help increase water productivity and raise on-farm incomes.
The initiative will focus on a range of important thematic areas to address issues of water scarcity in agriculture, including: Sustainable improvements of agricultural water productivity, cutting across all agricultural subsectors, from crop to livestock production, aquaculture and agroforestry, based on introduction of best practices in soil and water management, complementary afforestation, and sustainable grazing management.
Modernization and development of multipurpose and climate proofing irrigation infrastructure are considered also as important action areas to improve the efficiency of water use in agriculture while adapting to climate change impacts.
In the situation of growing water scarcity, in many countries food security will increasingly depend on food trade.