By Rommy IMAH
Reports abound which back claims that before the establishment of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation, Nigerian farmers were known to have suffered enormous losses on their investment without any means of returning to production. This situation saw the unfortunate migration from the rural areas to urban cities in search of greener pastures. Agriculture as an occupation was abandoned.
Consequently, food insecurity started creeping in. And so, there was the need to arrest this ugly trend, encourage and motivate farmers towards ensuring food security and availability. These efforts gave birth to the establishment of the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation by the Federal Government of Nigeria, aimed at addressing the challenges faced by Nigerian farmers.
In addition, the establishment of the specialised Agricultural Insurance Corporation was to address the concerns of the farmers who had complained about the unwillingness of traditional banking institutions to provide them insurance covers and accept risks associated with Agriculture. Today, the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation is specifically providing Agricultural risks insurance cover to Nigerian farmers.
Players in the Agricultural sector of every economy believe that Agricultural insurance protects against loss of or damage to crops or livestock. Its massive potential to provide value to low-income farmers and their communities, both by protecting farmers when shocks occur and by encouraging greater investment in crops, cannot be overemphasized.
And that is why AgroDomain, an integrated Pan African Start-up Agro Marketplace Platform designed to cater for the end-to-end requirements of the agricultural value chain, has partnered with the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation.
Farmers and indeed stakeholders in the agribusiness value chain know that Agricultural production faces myriad of risks with price risk caused by potential volatility in prices, and production risk resulting from uncertainty about the levels of production that primary producers can achieve from their current activities, forming the two major risks.
Unfortunately, it is argued in some quarters that Agricultural investments are among the riskiest economic ventures one can embark upon. The risk is validated by the unpredictable weather conditions, like storm, flood, drought and other natural hazards that make the flow of income from crop products and agricultural products like livestock poultry and dairies to be very unstable.
And that is why AgroDomain, an integrated Pan African Start-up Agro Marketplace Platform designed to cater for the end-to-end requirements of the agricultural value chain, has partnered with the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation. This partnership is aimed at empowering Agricultural industry players, whether big or small with direct access to what they need to succeed, wherever and whenever they need them.
Founded in 2019, AgroDomain uses the latest cutting-edge technologies to support every aspect of the agricultural value chain by creating products that enhance productivity and connectivity among every role player in the agricultural value chain.
For instance, its Agro Insurance Hub is an agro-insurance marketplace where AgroDomain farmers and insurance companies along with brokers and agents come together to insure farms and agro-related businesses. By using data from its various marketplace components, a farmer puts a request that he/she wants to insure the farm or farm product providing pertinent data about the farm or products thereof.
The way it works is that farmers are at liberty to choose the Insurance Company of their choice amongst the participating insurance companies on the platform of AgroDomain. Once the request is validated and submitted, the chosen insurance company will receive the request and evaluate the opportunities accordingly with either a decision to approve or reject.
However, farmers have options to choose multiple insurance companies based on their preference but can only accept one approved offer at a time. The farmer and the insurers have the option to complete all monetary transactions including premium payment using AgroDomain’s inbuilt payment processes or elect to do so outside of the platform.
AgroDomain’s vision is to bring digital transformation to the agricultural ecosystem in Nigeria in particular and the entire sub-Sahara Africa in general.
There are enormous benefits for farmers who take insurance policies to protect their crops, livestock, farming and harvesting practices from setbacks. From natural disaster to the risk involved in Agro business, to disruptions arising from Agric technologies, benefits abound in Agricultural insurance.
AgroDomain’s vision is to bring digital transformation to the agricultural ecosystem in Nigeria in particular and the entire sub-Sahara Africa in general. And that is why the Agro Marketplace has Modular components seamlessly interacting to equip farmers with the right tools to meet soaring demands.
Take, for instance, a good agricultural practice ensures investment in new technology, machines, tools and applications. When Agricultural insurance is taken against crops and livestock, this allows farm operators to open up for new technologies in the market. New technologies are invented each year to help farmers get more produce from their investments. Insurance companies allow farmers to get insurance covers for the new technologies such that, if they fail, farmers will not incur losses, as the insurance company would pay them their claims.
