The Ghana Agricultural Insurance Programme (GAIP) provides agricultural insurance for Ghana since 2011. It has developed the first agricultural insurance products for the country and now provides a risk management tool for the adverse effects of climate change and other risks to agricultural production. The insurance is provided by a pool of 19 Ghanaian insurance companies – the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) (see organizational chart). The array of products includes drought index insurance for maize, soya, sorghum and millet, as well as multi-peril crop insurance tailor-made to cover the various risks experienced by commercial farmers and plantations. Profound research in collaboration with national scientific institutes is key for the development of GAIP’s insurance policies. In 2013, the Technical Management Unit (TMU) successfully piloted an area yield index insurance product. The positive response and continuous interest by farmers, input dealers and banks motivate the GAIP team to extend agricultural insurance in Ghana. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) supports the set-up of GAIP with its Innovative Insurance Products for the Adaptation to Climate Change (IIPACC) project funded by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety (BMU).
Organisational Set-up
The graphic on the right hand side shows the organisational set-up of the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Programme.
The structure shall ensure that the engagement of the public sector, the private sector and development partners together best support an effective operation of the Ghana’s agricultural insurance scheme.
The History of GAIP
- March – August 2010: Feasibility study conducted
- September 2010: Steering Committee set-up
- January 2011: Training and capacity building for the insurance industry in pricing of weather index insurance products
- May 2011 : Formation of the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool by the Ghana Insurers Association
- May 2011: Formation of the Technical Management Unit as the operational outfit of the Pool
- May 2011: First Weather Index Insurance (WII) product for maize sold to three financial institutions and one research organization in the northern part of Ghana – covering more than 3,000 small-holder farmers
- June 2011: Official launch of GAIP
- December 2011: Installation of 18 new automated weather stations in 5 regions (Upper West, Northern Region, BA, Ashanti, Eastern)
- January-April 2012: Initiation of Area Yield Index Insurance (AYII) product development as a pilot for 2013; Trainings conducted on AYII product development and rating for the insurance industry; Strengthening of SRID (Statistics, Research and Information Directorate of MOFA) yield estimation capacity
- 2013 onwards: TMU completes a three-year business strategy to scale up the WII offerings by adding new crops and regions as well as new insurance products such as AYII
Location
