17 November 2008: The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), supported by the
Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, are launching a programme to increase access
by farmers in developing countries to weather-indexed insurance schemes.

These
schemes provide securities against extreme weather events such as droughts,
heavy rainfall and storms, which threaten the livelihoods of many farmers in
poor countries. Payments under weather-indexed insurance schemes are triggered
by pre-defined and independently-verifiable indices tracking events such as
lack of rainfall during critical crop-growing periods.
Under the programme, the
Gates Foundation will provide close to US$1 million to assess ongoing
initiatives, identify key success factors and promote the expansion of suitable
insurance schemes into areas particularly prone to extreme weather events.
Under the lead of WFD and IFAD, a number of strategic partners, including the
World Meteorological Organization, will collaborate to address the main
challenges of providing index-based insurance to framers.
The programme also
seeks to develop a strategy for a joint Weather Risk Management Facility that
would build the capacity of public and private entities in weather insurance,
and develop and test delivery models for index insurance relevant to rural
smallholders. [IFAD Press
Release] [WFP
Press Release] [UN
Press Release]