Sh252m to cushion farmers from losses

Chief Executive officer APA Insurance Ashok Shah. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • Sh252 million ($2.5 million) was winnings from the MasterCard Foundation Fund.
  • APA said it would go into expanding its bundled insurance products to guard rural population

APA Insurance will use Sh252 million ($2.5 million) winnings from the MasterCard Foundation Fund to extend its hedging programme used to cushion farmers from adverse weather and disease outbreaks.

The insurer was one of the winners of the Fund for Rural Prosperity that awarded five companies more than Sh1 billion ($10.6 million) to boost their work meant to alleviate poverty, by increasing access to financial services for poor people in rural Africa.

APA said it would go into expanding its bundled insurance products to guard rural population against weather and other natural risks, health related covers, and life insurance to enhance their livelihoods.

HUGE BOOST

“This grant is a huge boost to our efforts to create sustainable risk solutions and bring financial inclusion to a very important section of our population, the smallholder farmers. It will enable us to support them, to create and protect their hard work and help with their wealth and livelihoods,” said Mr Ashok Shah, the chief executive of the Apollo Group.

APA is involved with the government and other insurance companies in piloting the Area Yield Index Crop Insurance, Index-based Weather Insurance and Livestock Insurance in a bid to boost production.