DROUGHT: Thousands of Coast farmers have received an insurance payout for their crops that were af­fected by the drought that ravaged the country in the last season.

Crops and Agricultural Research Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga presented the 13,000 farmers from Kwale, Kilifi and Taita Taveta coun­ties with a cheque for Sh83 million.

Kilifi received the highest amount of Sh 56 million while Taita Taveta and Kwale received Sh14 million and Sh13 million respectively.

The farmers registered under government agricultural pro­gramme of KCEP CRAL received their payments through a consor­tium of seven insurance companies under Pula, a firm that delivers agri­cultural insurance and digital prod­ucts to help smallholder farmers.

In Kwale at least 70 per cent of the local farmers were affected by the drought. Rose Goslinga, co-founder of Pula said the money will assist the farmers to buy farm inputs and prepare for the next planting season. “Farmers paid money and it’s time for us to keep our promise because they have experienced drought and we want to enable them to plant again when rains come,” she said.

Hardest hit

The farmers are normally paid seasonally for the losses, the last season was the hardest hit. Pula is insuring farmers in at least 16 countries in Africa, according to Goslinga. “Within the 16 countries we have insured over $1 billion worth of agricultural investments and paid more than $15 million to farmers,” Goslinga said.

Boga said the project is part of the government efforts in empowering local farmers to improve productiv­ity and food security. “National and county governments have a joint programme helping farmers grow where they are given farm inputs and insurance is part of the pack­age,” he said.