Farmers set to earn Sh117.5m in crop failure insurance payout
By Nicholas Waitathu, August 28, 2020
The government has released Sh117.5 million compensation to over 25,000 small-scale farmers who experienced crops losses in 2019.
Payout to the farmers in 28 counties follows a loss assessment carried out at the end of the long-rain and short-rain seasons.
Agriculture Cabinet secretary Peter Munya said the assessment indicates that out of the 409,000 farmers insured, 25,228 farmers experienced crop losses and have claims amounting to Sh117.5 million.
This brings to 37,500 the number of farmers who have benefitted from crop loss compensation amounting Sh217 million since the crop insurance programme started.
Munya said the programme rolled out in 2016 seeks to build the resilience of smallholder farmers and enhance confidence in farming, by ensuring that farming is not a trial and error business.
Greater investment
“This will in turn lead to greater investment in the agriculture sector,” he said at a Nairobi hotel during the release of crop insurance compensation to farmers for the 2019 crop season losses.
Munya said the programme has so far been rolled out to 33 targeted food producing counties covering maize, beans, Irish potatoes, sorghum, cowpeas and green-grams.
The programme, he added, is progressively rolling out to cover other crops including wheat, rice, cash and horticultural crops.
Munya said the government has identified agriculture insurance as a key strategy to de-risk farming.