Affordable crop insurance

ICS, Agrics, Dutch insurance company Achmea, reinsurer Swiss Re, satellite data expert EARS and Kenyan insurance company UAP join forces to develop an accessible and affordable insurance product for smallholder farmers. By making use of the newest technologies, like blockchain, remote sensing and mobile payment, the partners aim to minimize the costs of an insurance product to make it affordable for farmers. The testing phase of the product is scheduled for the long rains season 2018 in Kenya, which takes place from February – May. 

Observing plots
Remote sensing will be an important tool in observing the land of farmers and the way it develops during the seasons. The observation is supported by satellites. Remote sensing makes it possible to observe thousands of plots of land at the same time in a very detailed way. This way we can easily see which plots are suffering from drought for example and which farmers have a right to claim a compensation. 

Data management
The micro insurance will get a blockchain set up. Blockchain is, simply put, an innovative and safe way of data management. It originally comes from the Bitcoin network. Blockchain is a decentralized kind of ledger that captures the exchange of goods and services. Transactions are recorded and validated in different locations or nodes. No one is owner of the blockchain, just like for example the internet.