Ipec ready to endorse EcoFarmer

Kudakwashe Pembere Business Reporter
THE Insurance and Pensions Commission says it is on the verge of giving approval to the deal between Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and Cell Insurance for the former’s mobile phone-based insurance product. This comes after the insurance regulator recently launched an investigation into Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone company operations of the structure of EcoFarmer.

Speaking to the Herald Business last Friday, IPEC head of prudential supervision Mr Pupurai Togarepi said they are on the verge  of concluding the deal between Econet and Cell.
“We are in the process of registering Econet as an agent of Cell Insurance. Cell will be using the Econet platform.”
“We are currently looking at the principles in the deal as an insurance regulator,” he said.
Econet Wireless developed EcoFarmer as a weather-indexed drought insurance cover for smallholder farmers allowing farmers to make a financial claim if their crops fail because of either inadequate or excessive rainfall.
Under the scheme, a farmer can buy insurance for as little as US8 cents per day deducted from their prepaid phone account during the agricultural season.
The service developed by Econet for Zimbabwe is similar to one which has been rolled out in Kenya, Kilimo Salama, by that country’s leading operator, Safaricom, which also pioneered mobile phone banking services in that country.
Kilimo Salama (“Safe Agriculture”) is an insurance designed for Kenyan farmers so they may insure their farm inputs against drought and excess rain.
The project, is a partnership between Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, UAP Insurance, and telecoms operator Safaricom, offers farmers who plant on as little as one acre insurance policies to shield them from losses when drought or excess rain affect their harvest.
Kilimo Salama insurance cover was designed based on a pilot project in Laikipia district in Kenya where several hundred maize farmers insured their farm inputs against drought in the long rainy season of 2009.