Adapting climate risk with mutual weather index crop insurance in Nigeria led by Professor Peter Njiforti from Ahmadu Bello University. While northern Nigeria is a critical agricultural region, rural families there face high risks related to climate change. Agricultural index insurance products tailored for the region’s predominantly Muslim farmers may promote resilience to weather shocks like drought or flood. This project is developing and testing a sharia compliant takaful mutual insurance contract that triggers payments in the event that there is a weather anomaly. The results of this project could unlock the financing needed to drive the development of inclusive agricultural value chains in the region.
Key USAID priorities in Nigeria are in agriculture and food security. This research project will complement and strengthen activities related to agriculture and food security which, since 2012, have helped to increase agricultural productivity, expand market participation, increase the resilience of vulnerable households, improve the business enabling environment and increase access to finance.
Results from this project will also enable NAIC and NIRSAL to meet their goal of expanding insurance to Nigeria’s roughly 15 million smallholder farmers. These efforts could ultimately unlock the needed financing to drive the development of inclusive agricultural value chains in the region.
