Location: Nationwide (focus on Manica and Zambézia provinces)
Duration: 2020-2021
Donor: USAID Feed the Future/Partnering for Innovation
Focus areas: Certified seed distribution and marketing; weather index insurance; Information Communication Technology
Designed in the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Idai, our SEEDS + project (a follow on from SEEDS), aimed to develop smallholders’ resilience to climate shocks and stresses through weather index insurance. Still a nascent product in Mozambique, SEEDS+ partnered with local seed company Phoenix Seeds and insurer Hollard Seguros to roll weather index insurance out weather index insurance on a fully commercial scale for the first time ever in the country.
Thanks to SEEDS+ support, Phoenix Seeds now “bundles” weather index insurance in all of its seed product, as standard and without increasing the sale price. This means that any farmer who buys Phoenix seeds and is hit by flood or drought (verified through satellite weather data) can obtain replacement seed from their agrodealer. NCBA CLUSA supported Phoenix and Hollard to run an intensive smallholder marketing, awareness raising and education campaign to stimulate demand. SEEDS+ also piloted Mozambique’s first ever digital (SMS based) insurance registration system – reducing transaction costs and streamlining the pay-out process.
Selected results:
- Sales of weather index insurance: In one year, Phoenix Seeds sold 805 tons of insured seed (valued at over $1,1800,000) to 65,000 smallholders via its network of 45 NCBA CLUSA supported agrodealers, in addition to bulk sales to aggregator clients
- Technical viability: SEEDS+ proved that it was technically possible to insure the smallholder market, using satellite data for claims verification and ICT tools for digital registration
- Financial sustainability: SEEDS+ proved the business case for weather index insurance. Post SEEDS+, Phoenix continues to automatically insure all of its product, at no extra cost to the consumer
