Caleb Onwe 
Smallholder farmers in North East, whose farmlands and products were destroyed by flood in 2022, are set to receive N6.9 million insurance claims. According to reports from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), about 245,361 persons in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe (BAYG) states were affected by the flooding, and a total 27,339 hectares of farmlands were also destroyed.
The Chief of Party, Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, Margarita Aswani, said the insurance payout claims was a measure to supplement the low yields recorded by farmers in the wet season, due to the flooding that led to the massive destruction of farmlands in the North East. “For us, it’s about helping our participants to build resilience to economic and climatic shocks like flooding and drought. We hope this payout would reduce the losses of participants who lost part of their yield to flood and drought, and prepare them for the next wet season,” Ndubisi Anyanwu, Mercy Corps Nigeria’s Country Director said. Indeed, the insurance payout claims, said to be from Pula Advisors and their partners, was designed to cushion the effects of the the changing climate on agricultural yields at the end of 2022 wet season farming.
The program was said to have been made possible by the USAID-funded Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity to all the qualified farmers. Speaking during the payout event, Rose Goslinga, the Co-Founder and President of Pula Advisors, said: “As the effects of climate change heighten the risks in agriculture and food production, the need to protect the investments of smallholder farmers has never been greater. “Our comprehensive insurance coverage pays out if the average yield achieved in a season is lower than the insured yield is a pivotal instrument in de-risking agricultural investments and contributes to the growth and resilience of insured farmers.” It was also stated that “each of the 299 smallholder farmers (92 in Adamawa, 44 in Southern Borno, 153 in Gombe and 10 in Yobe) spread across five Agro Ecological Zones (AEZs) were eligible to receive an amount between N15,000 and N30,000 depending on the AEZ within the state, the type of crop (maize, rice, cowpea or groundnut), the Measured Actual Yield per Hectare, and the Realized Yield as provided by the insurance policy.”
