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Agricultural insurance launched in Botswana
by Brain BenzaAgriculture insurance has finally been launched for the first time in Botswana with the facilitation of the Agricultural Hub, as the sector tries to move towards full commercialisation.
Agrinsure Botswana, a joint venture effort between South Africa's Farmers Technical Insurance Services Company (FTISC) and Alexandra Forbes Botswana, was recently officially unveiled to stakeholders in the industry.
According to Agriculture Hub Coordinator, Neil Fitt, the establishment of agriculture insurance in Botswana is a major milestone in the sector as the idea for such a product has been in the pipeline for many years and it will now strengthen the country's efforts to attain food sustainability.
"In the past we have only had schemes that were put in place by government and in as much as they were very helpful to the farmers, they had their own limitations as they were national programmes. With the introduction of Agrinsure, we will now have products that are farm and individual specific. This will also go a long way in assisting farmers that were in need of such products as we know that banks here are not that excited about the farming business," said Fitt.
The company will be the first to offer agricultural insurance products in Botswana covering both livestock and crops.
The Agriculture hub Coordinator says that the Agrinsure project is purely a commercial venture with no government involvement except only to sanctify the venture.
Fitt added that they were forced to go and solicit for the services of the South African company after local companies were either uninterested in agriculture insurance or inexperienced to offer the service.
CEO of Agrinsure David Garden says they are now in the process of winding up registration of the company with the licence from the Non-Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority(NBFIRA) expected soon.
Asked to comment on the chances of finding underwriters in a market where the financial institutions are not very keen on agriculture insurance, Garden said, " we are hoping a few financial institutions will come on board but some of the business will have to be taken abroad. Alexandra Forbes will have the task of looking for the underwriters but this is still a new product in a relatively small market and I believe we are going to have to take a significant amount of the business outside the country. In South Africa most of our business comes from Standard Chartered bank and we are hoping they are going to be one of the first to do business with us here in Botswana. I understand they have already sent a representative from South Africa to look into this matter," said Garden.
Reinsurance support for the direct insurer is expected to be provided by Munich Re, the largest reinsurer in Africa while local technical support will be done by Agrinsure.
Garden further said they have crafted a number of products which will suit different farmers for both livestock and crops. "For the first time in Botswana multiperil insurance will be available for herd animals at affordable premium with the introduction of Herd Select Insurance. The Farmer can select the animals he wishes to insure if he does not want to insure his entire herd. Effecting this Insurance will also assist the farmer to obtain finance to purchase animals" he said.
Rates will be based on the number of animals insured and the self-insurance option chosen, usually 10 percent. Garden added that the insurance is designed to protect the least valuable animals, or the entire herd where the farmer is not concerned about disease or sickness cover, with the cover options including death from fire, lightning, accident and theft.
On crops, the cover provided will be based on a guaranteed yield which is determined by the production history (potential yield) and calculated at an agreed value per tonne.
Perils that may be covered are fire, lightning, frost, excessive rain, drought including excessive heat waves, uncontrollable crop diseases and pests and transit within a 100km radius. The basis rate for this insurance is five percent.
Mmegi
US cotton lobby bids for African support
West African cotton growers have long accused US subsidies of impeding international competition in the cotton marketplace. Now American cotton growers are discussing how to convince African cotton farmers that they are not the problem and that Brazil, India and China are.Growers, experts and distributors are meeting at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans from 4-7 January.
“The cotton-producing countries in west Africa should align themselves with the United States in the push for reduced import trade barriers in key importing countries,” the leaders of the National Cotton Council, the US cotton lobby, wrote in a letter in December.
Countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and even Chad have long complained of US cotton subsidies putting them out of business. In five years, west African cotton production has gone down by half, and is now at about 500,000 tonnes per year.
The NCC says that the problem is not the US. Rather, it blames African inefficiency and the rising threats of growing cotton giants Brazil, India and China.
But Jean-Pierre Boris, who follows commodities for RFI, writes in his blog that this is a specious argument. It is impossible to group the 25,000 US cotton growers with the millions of small African farmers, he says.
“How do you compare the US subsidies, even if there are reforms, with the sale price that African growers get?” he asks. Boris says that African farmers are subsistence farmers, while US farmers can switch from one crop to another if the price of cotton goes down. He compares the American cotton lobby’s attempt at seducing African cotton growers to Brazil getting African farmers to fight US cotton subsidies just a few years ago.
“We know the result,” he writes. “The World Trade Organisation condemned the Americans, compensated the Brazilians. And as for African cotton, it was sentenced to an inexorable decline.”
Radio France Internationale
Enterprises and networks commit to preventative safety and health culture
A new stage in building a global movement for safety and health at work was reached at a high-level European meeting held in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 4 November, when representatives of business and professional organizations committed to promoting a “preventative workplace safety and health culture worldwide.”The enterprises and networks represented at the high-level meeting signed the “Düsseldorf Statement” in support of the objectives of the Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work, which is an international reference point for a preventative occupational safety and health culture, launched in 2008.
Convened by the International Social Security Association (ISSA) in collaboration with the International Labour Office and the Korea Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA), the event was the latest in a series of initiatives in support of a preventative safety and health culture.
reed more on: http://www.issa.int/aiss/News-Events/News/Enterprises-and-networks-commit-to-preventative-safety-and-health-culture
