Safer Farming

10th March, 2010 - Posted by Nancy Winn -

Too much rain? Too little rain? Just the right amount of rain? Farmers all over the world must contend with the unpredictability of the weather. Today, it is sunny and cool here in Portland but our local weather forecasters are predicting snow for tomorrow morning down as low as the valley floor. I am thankful my livelihood is not tied to the weather.

In 2009 Kenya experienced drought conditions. Currently, northwest Kenya is forecast to have heavy rains during the March to May period and there are flood warnings for some areas. This week a new program called Kilimo Salama (Swahili for “safe farming”) was launched in Eldoret to provide crop insurance to farmers to help take some of the risk out of farming. The insurance is based on the rainfall index. This index based insurance pays the farmers based on rainfall readings on a local public gauge and is not effected by actions of the farmer. It is hoped that farmers will be encouraged to plant larger crops and to maximize their harvest yield. Currently farmers minimize their risk of weather related crop failure by planting smaller crops. As a consequence their harvest is smaller even when the weather is favorable.

Most Kenyan farmers are skeptical of insurance so it will be interesting to see if this program is successful.

You can read the full article titled “Kenya: Taking the risk out of farming” online at http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88327