Background
Livestock production and livelihoods in the IGAD region are constrained by increased frequency of drought that has led to inadequate fodder and water and health issues and often resulted in loss of animals and livelihoods by the community. This calls for promotion of livestock insurance for pastoral communities to serve as one way to mitigate losses to pastoralists through mortalities. The regional livestock working group meeting was organized by IGAD Centre for Pastoral areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD) and FAO on 26th February, 2019 and reviewed livestock insurance initiatives being undertaken in Kenya, Ethiopia and by partners. The good practices, challenges and policy gaps were identified and documented for follow up actions by all IGAD member states.
The presentations included; A brief on the Kenya livestock Insurance Program(KLIP); Product Design, Lessons learnt and sustainable scaling (ILRI), Current challenges and opportunities of public and private livestock insurance markets in Kenya, The role of Government and private sector in the intervention (Nyala Insurance Share Company, Ethiopia) and Livestock Insurance; from Emergency to Resilience Building (World Bank)
Recommendations
- ICPALD and FAO should support the development of a regional strategy and policy framework to coordinate and guide the uptake of livestock insurance in the region
- ICPALD, FAO and ILRI should organize a regional stakeholders meeting to share good practices and key issues affecting livestock insurance uptake, publicize the initiatives and strive for scale up in other member states that are yet to initiate index based livestock insurance (IBLI).
