Advertisement

Farmers to get relief over destroyed crops

FARMERS will now be relieved from losses caused by various natural disasters, following introduction of a new insurance cover.

The new crop insurance is set to cover thousands of farmers in the country and would be provided via the signature digital platform.

Yara Tanzania Company introduced the insurance in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, targeting to reach thousands of farmers in the country.

Advertisement

The company stated that the groundbreaking initiative is offered through a new technology project, called Africaconnect.

Africaconnect was launched in 2022 and rice farmers are among the 83,000 enrolled so far enjoying access to funding, high-quality and dependable fertiliser, extension services as well as a ready market for their produce.

“Offering crop insurance to farmers across the country is a huge milestone for us at Yara as we seek to empower hard working farmers to secure livelihoods and food security.

By joining Africaconnect, Jubilee Insurance adds to the impetus of making farming in Tanzania stable and profitable,” said Yara Tanzania Managing Director, Mr Winstone Odhiambo.

Other Africaconnect partners are Equity Bank, Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Seed Agency (ASA) and Murzah Wilmar Rice Millers Limited.

Jubilee Insurance is the latest partner to join the initiative that provides tailor-made solutions to raise farmers’ productivity.

Farmers wishing to join the platform can use Yara fertiliser agents near them, or any Equity Bank branches.

Jubilee Allianz General Insurance Company Chief Executive Officer and Director, Dipankar Acharya said; “we are excited to be joining the Africaconnect partnership to shield farmers from losses occasioned by natural calamities through offering them crop insurance cover and better management of the risk exposures they face.

We anticipate that farmers will now farm with greater confidence as a result of this.”

With tangible success in the first year, the Africaconnect partnership will extend the service to even more farmers this year.

“We are happy to also announce today that other than rice growers, in 2023 Africaconnect will enlist maize, coffee, potatoes and sunflower growers. We urge all targeted farmers to enroll and benefit from the wide variety of services offered,” he said.

In 2022, Equity Bank Tanzania Limited issued loans worth 14bn/- to some 4600 farmers through Africaconnect in Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Morogoro, Arusha, Manyara and Iringa regions.

Equity Bank Managing Director, Ms Isabela Maganga said; “it has been an exciting year of our partnership, with farmers accessing collateral-free input loans from the bank.  We look forward to serving more farmers this year as Yara extends the service to cover more crops.”

The platform will target over 300,000 farmers in 2023 with its unique partnership that provides a one-stop solution to farmers’ critical needs.

Ms Upendo Daniel, a widowed rice farmer in the Mvomero District of Morogoro Region said; “with my small farm, it was impossible to get a loan as most financial institutions would not approve me. I thank Yara for availing to us Africaconnect and now I can feed and school my children.”