Farmers Offered Free Insurance to Steer Away from Poverty

The African country of Ghana has launched a pilot project to offer free crop insurance to farmers, preventing them from falling into poverty due to repercussions caused by global warming.

“Crop insurance is a game-changer,” says Ebenezer Laryea, the Ghana head of agricultural businesses at Opportunity International, the organization which covers the farmers’ insurance premiums. It is especially the case for a country such as Ghana where half the population depends on farming for their livelihood.

Run by social enterprise Roots for Change, the insurance project includes a package that helps supplement the income farmers usually make, thus carrying them through the coming planting season. Some 1,360 farmers from northern Ghana are covered by the crop insurance project and since its launch last year, a total of 300 farmers have been compensated and stayed afloat.