Last week, ICMIF member CLIMBS (Philippines) officially launched an enhanced Weather Protect Insurance product for farmers and agripreneurs with global partners IBISA (Luxembourg), also an ICMIF member, Global Parametrics, and CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture). ICMIF is also supporting the collaboration through the provision of technical assistance. The launch event took place on Thursday 29 July and was attended by over 100 people.
Many Filipino farmers do not have access to insurance for their crops even though they are vulnerable to weather risk. Driven by a desire to help close this gap, CLIMBS’ new agricultural insurance product has been purposefully designed with sustainability and inclusive protection in mind. It is an innovative solution using blockchain technology with a unique feature on smart agriculture to help build resilience and sustainability among farmers and agripreneurs.
For the pilot phase, CLIMBS has partnered with like-minded cooperatives: Mindanao Consolidated Cooperative Bank (MCCB), Paglaum Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Metro Ormoc Community Multi-Purpose Cooperative (OCCCI), Oro Integrated Cooperative (OIC), and The Philippine Family Farmers Agriculture-Fishery-Forestry Cooperatives Federation (AgriCOOPh), with the goal of protecting 3,600 farmers in the first year.
This partnership is viewed as their collective contribution to #Coops2030 in addressing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly: Goal 1 – No Poverty; Goal 2 – Zero Hunger; Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production; Goal 13 – Climate Action; and Goal 17 – Partnership for the Goals.
When speaking of the importance of the product, Mr. Noel Raboy, President and CEO, CLIMBS, said “The product has been designed to protect the livelihood and enhance the resilience of farmers who are part of the vulnerable sector of the community here in the Philippines. In addition to the insurance coverage, farmers will also benefit from advisory services such as what crops to plant during a particular season and whether their location is vulnerable to issues brought about by climate change, such as excessive rainfall which may result in flooding. These concerns have been validated by our partner cooperatives and we look forward to seeing the benefits in the coming months.
“Through this collaboration with our global partners, we aim to stimulate the financial growth of our partner cooperatives and positively impact local and economic growth. We are particularly grateful to ICMIF who has been instrumental in helping us enhance the product by connecting us with the right partners, particularly in relation to blockchain technology. We are very excited about the launch of this product and view it as a first step in paving the way for scaling up in the future,” he added.
Maria Mateo Iborra, Co-Founder of IBISA, said, “We are excited to be instrumental in the development of an innovative mutual crop insurance coverage based on a weather index to build resilient and sustainable communities in the Philippines.
She continued, “During this pilot we will further refine our software which provides an operational platform that reduces costs, increases automation and facilitates processes in mutual collaboration and learning.”
CLIMBS has a long history of working to provide microinsurance products and other services to its cooperative members.
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