By AgroNigeria
Israeli-based agronomic operations developer, Agritask has partnered with Nigeria’s Royal Exchange General Insurance Company to launch a digital crop and livestock insurance platform for Nigerian farmers.
The digital insurance platform seeks to underwrite one million smallholder farmers across the country by 2025.
The platform will also involve key players in the agricultural sector such as cooperatives, agro buyers, agro consultants, banks, input distributors, among others.
With agric insurance failing to meet farmers needs in most countries, Agritask, via its comprehensive data management system, alongside Royal Exchange, will provide succour to farmers plagued with several challenges stemming from the lack of viable insurance.
Speaking on the platform, Agritask CEO, Ofir Adon said, “Farming in most of the world is comprised of small-scale farmers who face the very same risks and challenges large commercial operations do: Bad weather, low yields, and supply chain challenges.
“However, they do not have the resilience that larger commercial operations have; that’s why there is a huge need for greater risk management abilities in this segment.
“Because we work with the entire ecosystem, we can provide economies of scale for growers, both at the individual farmer level, as well as for all other players in the ecosystem,” he added.
Head of Agribusiness and Business Development for Royal Exchange, Chukwuma Kalu, on his part, decried the low level of technological advancement in Nigeria, particularly affecting the agricultural sector. He expressed optimism in the future of this novel collaboration.
“There are many regional impact projects in Nigeria, but most of them struggle to reach hundreds or thousands of farmers, simply because they do not have the technology required to manage and optimise an operation of this scale. Therefore, many times, when the project funding ends, the impact vanishes.
“Working with Agritask, we have a great opportunity to develop a more sustainable model. We believe this kind of sustainability can, and should, become a reality across Africa.
“With Agritask’s technology, we can level the playing field and get them to operate with the same resilience as larger commercial entities,” he stressed.
