Kenya: World Bank sponsors expanded insurance scheme for herders
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2023
Kenya will spend $140m to roll out an expanded insurance scheme for livestock farmers to cushion them against the vagaries of frequent droughts, reported Reuters quoting officials. In Kenya, over 150,000 pastoralists are expected to benefit from the project, according to the government.
The new scheme, known as DRIVE, is part of a World Bank-sponsored project targeting 1.6m herders over the next half a decade in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, a region which is prone to devastating droughts that occur every two to four years.
The scheme offers herders who buy subsidised policies not just insurance for their animals in case of drought, but digital payments and savings products to boost their financial wellbeing.
Zep-Re Insurance, a regional reinsurer, will implement the programme on behalf of the government, targeting herders in several arid and semi-arid counties that are usually hardest hit by drought.
The insurance component will be funded by $75m from the World Bank, with the rest going to a second component aimed at helping herders improve their meat products and look for new markets, said officials. M