Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Oko's mobile-centric micro insurance protecting small farmers in developing countries from climate risks

Project description

Micro insurance protecting small farms

Smallholder farmers provide about 80 % of the food in developing countries. Sustainability is therefore a critical factor here. Still, wide-ranging climate risks continue to imperil their harvests. Crop insurance offers a solution but many farmers remain locked in poverty, unable to access such options. OKO’s InsurFarm solution provide farmers with an alternative affordable and fully automated insurance solution. Using weather prediction and automated contracts, InsurFarm’s unique insurance automatically compensates farmers located in areas struck by foul weather conditions. Farmers subscribe to this insurance via SMS and pay using any kind of mobile phone, with no bank regulators or intervention required.

Objective

Agriculture is a source of income for 2 billion people globally who grow the food we desperately need – 60% more food will be needed by 2050. Of these, smallholder farmers provide 80% of the food in developing countries, and their sustainability is critical. These farmers are at ever increasing risk of losing their harvest due to adverse weather. Yet, due to this risk, most farmers are deprived from basic financial tools to insure their farms and have no access to loans needed to invest or adopt new technologies. They are locked in poverty. Crop insurance is a solution that effectively secures farming income, but it is not accessible to them, as most are un-banked and illiterate. OKO’s InsurFarm solution offers these farmers with an accessible, affordable and fully automated insurance solution. OKO leverages the ubiquity of mobile phones and mobile payment, and the availability of satellite and weather data to create a new kind of insurance product. Using weather prediction and automated contracts, InsurFarm’s unique insurance automatically compensates farmers located in areas affected by adverse weather. Farmers subscribe to this insurance via SMS and pay using any kind of mobile phone, no bank needed. The innovations brought by OKO are highly valuable for insurance companies as OKO creates a new market for them, estimated to be worth € 7.5 billion globally. It also represents a unique opportunity for OKO’s mobile operator partners to offer a new “mobile financial service” to rural users. After successful pilots in Mali, OKO seeks funding to conduct a feasibility study for a pan-African followed by a global commercial launch. During this project, it will conduct market and economic studies, engage with insurance companies and mobile operators, expose InsurFarm to farmers, validate its models and define an adaptation plan to allow global operations. This will lead to a plan to achieve strong growth and fast access to markets.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

OKO FINANCE LTD
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
91 NORDAU BOULEVARD
6249601 TEL AVIV
Israel

See on map

SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
My booklet 0 0