Exploration of Index-Based Insurance for Smallholder Farmers in Mozambique

The current seeds regulations in Mozambique specify amongst otherthings minimum required standards of germination rates dependingon type variety and stage of development of the seedWe were aware that formal seed markets relied on research and development of seedbreeds for assurance of the required quality and for innovations such as droughtresistant varieties. Given the application of these essential risk control measures in thiskey input and the broad network of seed distribution channels we believed that seedsuppliers could play a critical role in the marketing of our proposed complimentaryclimate risk mitigation product to serve our common goals of protecting andincreasing resilience of agricultural primary production. We explain in this book how weimplemented this idea and the various questions that we explored in our index-basedinsurance extension project including the following:How could we enhance standard product guarantees ofseed companies to offer additional protection againstcritical climate-related risks?How could we embed climate risk insurance informal seed systems without adding cost forthe end-benefi ciaries?What technology and distribution innovations shouldwe consider for the purposes of ensuring that we canmonitor cost-effectively covered risks?What value-adding services should be made available tosupport the risk carriers the distribution partners and thesmallholder farmers?How did we promote agricultural risk literacy using indigenousknowledge systems located in ancient African oral traditionalstories that were part of the customs of our target population?