GIACIS

The majority of farmers in Ethiopia have less than 0.5 ha of land. These subsistence farmers are very vulnerable to climate-based risks such as drought. Trying to avoid unnecessary risks they are not inclined to invest and adopt recommended management changes, although a basic insurance would go a long way to get them out of this poverty trap. The GIACIS project has developed the required insurance instrument. It reduces the impact of drought related shocks in income of smallholder farmers, especially when they made extra investments using credit or own capital.  ITC developed the method, algorithms and tools to interpret satellite imagery to monitor the status of the green vegetation. Every ten days this information is used to calculate the severity of drought by crop production zone and to determine the indemnity payments due. The target is that farmers are automatically insured against drought, indirectly when using credit to buy agricultural inputs, or directly when purchasing those inputs. Implementation relies on low-cost branchless banking technology using apps for mobile devices, and on scalable financial inclusion that can reach the majority of rural areas. GIACIS is a public-private partnership between ITC, Kifiya Financial Technology, the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) and the National Meteorology Agency (NMA) of Ethiopia.

Contact persons

dr.ir. C.A.J.M. de Bie

Project leader

Global impact

Food security

Population growth is leading to increasing demands for food and hence claiming more land for food production. This process has thrown many developing countries into a poverty trap characterized by expansion of agriculture into marginal lands, land degradation and declining yields. 

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