Speaking at the ‘MENA InsureTech Summit’ in Doha offered a valuable platform to reflect not only on the role of insurance in agriculture, but also on how innovation, inclusion, and digital transformation are converging to redefine the future of food security in Africa.
The panel, Protecting Farmers, Powering Growth, surfaced a reality that is as urgent as it is full of promise: we cannot talk about economic transformation, climate resilience, or rural prosperity in Africa without addressing the vulnerability of farmers—and we cannot address that vulnerability without radically rethinking the role of insurance.
Across Africa, agriculture remains the backbone of most economies. It employs over 60% of the continent’s labour force and contributes up to 30% of GDP in many countries. Despite its centrality, agriculture remains highly exposed to systemic risks—climate volatility, droughts, floods, pests, and shifting markets.
For most smallholder farmers, these shocks are not occasional disruptions; they are recurring threats to survival. And yet, only a tiny fraction of African farmers have any form of insurance coverage. This gap is not just a market failure—it is a development failure.
Enter parametric insurance: a tool that may finally be able to operate at the speed and scale Africa requires. Unlike traditional insurance, which relies on cumbersome loss verification and long claim cycles, parametric insurance is built around predefined triggers—such as rainfall levels, temperature, or wind speed.
When those thresholds are crossed, payouts are made instantly and transparently, eliminating disputes and delays. For smallholder farmers, this speed is everything. A payout that arrives in days, not months, can mean the difference between replanting and giving up.
In Rwanda, where the government has made significant strides in digitalisation and inclusive finance, the conditions are ripe for scaling parametric insurance. The integration of mobile money, satellite technology, and farmer-level data makes it possible to design affordable, accessible products that reach rural populations.
But to unlock this potential, we must move beyond pilot projects and into system-level integration. Insurance must be embedded into the agricultural value chain—from seed distribution to credit access to climate advisory services.
What became clear during the summit is that insurance must no longer be seen as a standalone product. When paired with digital wallets, bundled with weather information and inputs, or integrated into credit disbursements, parametric insurance becomes a gateway to a broader ecosystem of resilience and productivity.
A farmer with insurance is more likely to borrow, to invest in fertiliser, to take risks on new crops. Insurance lowers fear, and where fear subsides, innovation can take root.
Yet this ecosystem will not emerge on its own. Governments have a central role to play. Public-private partnerships can catalyse the market, subsidise premiums for the most vulnerable, and ensure that early-stage risks are absorbed collectively.
Just as importantly, governments must invest in the foundational infrastructure that enables parametric insurance to function: reliable weather data, geospatial mapping, and digital identity systems. Without trust in the underlying indices, even the best-designed product will fail to gain traction.
Rwanda, in this context, is uniquely positioned. With a track record of innovation in e-government, digital finance, and agricultural transformation, it can become a continental leader in scalable, inclusive InsurTech. But scale will only happen if farmers see value—real, tangible value—in what insurance offers.
That requires building trust, demystifying insurance, and rooting it in local institutions such as cooperatives and farmer groups. Trust cannot be downloaded; it must be earned through consistency, simplicity, and results.
One of the most powerful ideas raised during the summit was that insurance should no longer be viewed as compensation—it should be seen as infrastructure. Just as roads and irrigation systems enable agriculture to thrive, so too does insurance provide a financial safety net that makes investment viable and risk manageable.
Especially in a climate-stressed future, where weather patterns are increasingly erratic, insurance is not a luxury. It is an essential tool for stability and long-term planning.
But let’s be clear: technology is not a silver bullet. InsurTech can scale solutions, but it cannot replace the political will and policy coherence needed to reform agriculture at its core. Insurance will only work if embedded within a broader agenda that includes land reform, access to markets, research and development, and climate-smart agriculture. We must avoid the trap of technosolutionism and instead focus on building inclusive, farmer-centred systems.
Ultimately, the discussion in Doha underscored a simple truth: protecting farmers is not just a matter of fairness—it is a precondition for economic growth. Agriculture is still the heartbeat of Africa’s rural economy. If we are serious about powering inclusive growth, we must build tools that make agriculture less risky, more productive, and more rewarding. Parametric insurance, when designed for people rather than just profits, has the power to do just that.
As African economies look ahead, insurance must be seen not as an afterthought but as a foundation. It is time to protect farmers—not only from the shocks of nature but from the cycles of poverty and precarity that have defined their experience for too long. The technology is here. The challenge now is to scale it, trust it, and ensure it serves those who need it most.
The author is an economist.
