Farmers and exporters co-operative Nature’s Way is expecting more members to sign up for parametric insurance covering rainfall and cyclones this year.
Many farmers and other rural business owners have received payouts this year as a result of the heavy rainfall that has afflicted the Western Division in the past few months.
This was made possible through a parametric microinsurance plan developed by the UNCDF (United Nations Capital Development Fund) and delivered through FijiCare, Tower Insurance and Sun Insurance.
The recent payout to 535 people was processed by FijiCare. Nature’s Way project field officer Maria Biaukula said 31 of their members had signed up for the insurance plan in 2022 and with plans to expand their outreach this year the organisation expects that number to grow significantly.
“Last year we mostly just followed up with forums, educating members during forums, but this year what we’ve been doing, I’ve been going down to individual co-operatives.
“So recently I have done three trainings all from Nadi area,” she said.
“They were very sceptical at first, but now since they heard about the first pay-out coming out, they were more interested in us coming down in person again to the exporters farmhouse and to do a bit of training.
“So, I think this year we’ll be expecting more signups from members and non-members as well.”
General manager Donald Pickering said of the insurance policy that, “We’ve found it to be a very good concept and we see it, hopefully, as the foundation for crop insurance for Fiji and the Pacific.”
The project was funded by the governments of New Zealand, Australia, and Luxembourg. The Fiji component receives specific support from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, which is administered by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation.
