The Sindh government has launched a pilot Crop Insurance Program in the Larkana and Ghotki districts, aimed at protecting the farming community amid climate change, announced Mohammad Bakhsh Mehr, the provincial Minister for Agriculture.
To implement the program, the government has partnered with international advisors, Pula, for insurance services. Pula’s Country Head in Pakistan, Widad Durrani, participated in a meeting held in Karachi to discuss the initiative.
Minister Mehr led the meeting with his team, including the Secretary of the Agriculture Department and other officials, to outline the next steps for the program.
The Crop Insurance Program is designed to compensate farmers whose crops are damaged by natural disasters such as heavy rains and floods. The program aims to address the increasing challenges posed by climate change and other environmental factors.
In addition to the insurance program, the Sindh government has introduced the Benazir Hari Card to further support farmers. The goal is to offer crop insurance under this initiative to help mitigate losses caused by floods, disease, pests, heat, and other threats.
Pula Advisors will assist Sindh’s farmers in implementing this insurance model, focusing on key crops such as rice, cotton, and wheat. The program will begin as a one-year pilot project in the Kharif season of 2025. If successful, it will expand to 27 more districts and include additional crops such as sugarcane.
About Pula
This company claims:
Driving Traceability with Key Partnerships
The farmer registration effort is a coordinated approach involving a consortium of dedicated organisations working in sync. To date, over 303,811 coffee farmers have been registered, representing a substantial milestone in the journey to create a comprehensive database that supports traceability and accountability. The EUDR takes effect on December 31, 2024.
10,000 farmers in Kitui County, Kenya
Our insurance payouts are key in stabilising household incomes during droughts and severe weather events. Farmers invest insurance payouts into the livelihoods of families through closing the food shortage, saving and paying off debts, and investing in assets like livestock and children’s education.
Empowering Smallholder Farmers with Central Bank of Nigeria – Anchor Borrowers Program
In 2020, Pula worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria to insure about 543,000 farmers for the wet season.
Of these, 196,301 were under the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) and 235,907 were rice farmers under the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) and NIRSAL MFB.
Protecting Kenyan farmers with World Food Programme
Pula has worked with WFP over 3 years to provide crop insurance to farmers in Kitui, Kenya. Over the past three years, the programme has grown from 1,000 to about 10,000 insured farmers, and crop loss compensation amounting to US$766,000.
