finance

This article by Michael R. Carter, Sarah A. Janzen and Quentin Stoeffler suggests that insurance can help manage climate risk and food insecurity. If well-designed, insurance contracts can be implemented and priced at a reasonable level, despite the uncertainties that attend climate change. Evidence from the Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) index insurance project in the pastoral regions in East Africa suggest that practical difficulties can be overcome and that insurance can have the impacts that underlay the positive theoretical evaluation. »

This report presents the lessons from a regional finance fair in Mbarara, Western Uganda. The objectives of the fair were to provide a platform for building business links and brokering deals between farmer entrepreneurs in the livestock sector and financial service providers as well as jointly find solutions to other challenges in the livestock value chain. »

This policy note by the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) makes the case for agricultural insurance in the context of food security, explains the role of regulation to make effective risk protection work and highlights some of the challenges in regulating innovative index-based insurance approaches. »

This paper by the Inter-American Development Bank, analyzes in detail the market constraints on the development of the agricultural insurance market in Colombia and provides recommendations so that it can fulfill its potential as a risk management tool in the country. Insurance can potentially play an important role in climate change adaptation for rural households in developing countries as part of the overall climate change adaptation strategy. However, agricultural insurance markets have many market failures that inhibit their full development. »

This brochure (PDF) by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), focuses on how to make 500 million farmers climate-resilient in 10 years while also reducing their agricultural emissions. It includes lessons learnt from five years of CCAFS work. »

This report by Root Capital explains how a blend of capital can help build resilience against a dwindling supply and rising demand in commodities such as coffee, cacao, and tea. The report states that investment in agriculture—perhaps more than any other sector—has the potential to bring about unprecedented change today and into the future, from food security and nutrition to environmental sustainability and economic growth. »