• There are two broad categories that are on the market at the moment one being input and the other one being yield insurance.
• Under yield insurance, farmers can only be compensated once they have finished harvesting and losses have been quantified.
• According to this policy, the harvest period ended on 30th June.

Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) says Weather Index Insurance plays a key role in risk mitigation especially with regards to addressing climate change challenges farmers face.
Authority Communications Manager Doreen Silungwe told Money FM News in an interview that currently, there are two broad types of Weather Index insurance on the market one being input, which covers germination failure, while the other one is yield insurance.
Mrs. Silungwe explained that the type of insurance in Southern Province where stakeholders are calling on insurance companies to timely compensate farmers registered under Weather Index insurance is a yield based insurance cover.
She said under this type of insurance, farmers can only be compensated once they have finished harvesting and their losses have been quantified by the insurance company.
‘The harvest period according to this policy ended on 30th June and the insurance company is expected to move in to quantify the losses and make the payouts accordingly. So I would say that this is largely a misunderstanding of the product,” Mrs. Silungwe said.
Mrs. Silungwe urged insurance companies in the country to educate farmers on the policies that they are offering to avoid misinformation.
She said it is important that the policy holder understands the terms and conditions attached to the policy.
“It is important that the policy holder understands the terms and conditions including any other obligation attached to the policy, their consumer rights, and the total payment that is expected in terms of a loss.”
“It is also important that the policy holder understands the claims procedure, when it kicks in and what they need to present to the insurance company in order to get a payout,” she added.
Mrs. Silungwe was responding to calls by Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) Head of Research Freeman Mubanga on the need for insurance companies to timely compensate farmers registered on the Weather Index Insurance, stating that farmers in Southern Province, which recorded erratic rainfall, are waiting for a clear roadmap from firms providing this product on how they will compensate them.
Weather Index Insurance is an innovative approach to managing climate related risks using a pre-defined index, such as rainfall, to determine pay-outs which help smallholder farmers to recover their investment losses resulting from weather related events.