Lima Salama – A hybrid crop insurance product developed by ACRE Africa with support from funding through the FISFAP program under Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The product is underwritten by the National Insurance Corporation (NIC). At the moment the product is covering two value chains; maize and paddy and its available in four regions ; Iringa, Mbeya, Njombe and Morogoro. The product is covering farmers against weather and non weather related risks such as pests, diseases , drought, excessive rainfall, floods and wild fire. The product is distributed in the form of scratch cards , through agro dealers and other dealers who have direct contacts with farmers across the regions . The cover card value is Tsh 5,000 and one card covers cost of production worth 50,000. Farmers can buy more than one insurance card to put protection to his or her farm. Cards activation is done through SMS across all mobile service networks with zero charges to a farmer.
In 2019/20 agricultural season 32 farmers were affected by excessive rainfall and drought incidents. The National Insurance corporation in collaboration with the ministry of agriculture at the village and ward level were able to conduct loss inspection to enable claims processing. Thirty two claims worth Tsh. 23,000,000 were confirmed, where the NIC and ACRE Africa in collaboration with other product implementers organized a small function to hand over a cheque to the affected farmers, an event which took place in Morogoro on 14th December with Permanent secretary from the ministry of Agriculture hosted as the guest of honor.
