ADB LOAN 44321-013 CAM: Climate-Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development Program (Rice-SOP): Detailed Design and Pilot Testing of a Weather Indexed Crop Insurance Scheme

The objective of WICI is to increase the resilience of rice farming households to climate and natural disaster risks. It is expected that through WICI, rice farm income losses caused by climate and natural disaster risk will be reduced.

The project follows an earlier Phase 1 (Feasibility Study) that was completed in June 2018. The Phase 2 aims to pilot WICI products, by strengthening the initially proposed design under Phase 1, for rice farmers, especially small and marginal farmers, to address some inherent deficiencies in traditional crop insurance. The Phase 2 will facilitate Public Private Partnership, partnership between insurance companies (including micro-insurance companies), MFIs, agricultural in-put suppliers (seeds, fertilizer and pesticide), agricultural cooperatives, etc. to provide affordable and sustainable weather index-based solutions to small and marginal farmers that would require a synergistic approach by both the public and private sector. The Phase 2 will have an iterative process of product improvement based on partner and client feedback during the piloting period, in which product design and pricing will be tested, product evaluation, and sharing of feedback with all partners, leading to further modification that will feed into the pilot loop. This approach will allow greater flexibility in improving WICI products and address any potential risks during implementation. To encourage uptake of WICI, the option of the RGC subsidies for premium, capital costs, awareness raising, and customer education will be explored, if need be.