Promoting Food Security in a Volatile Climate: Agricultural Insurance for Senegalese Farmers

We cannot stop natural calamities, but we can and must better equip individuals and communities to withstand them. Those most vulnerable to nature’s wrath are usually the poorest, which means that when we reduce poverty, we also reduce vulnerability. Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary-General, October 12, 2005 Kofi Annan’s 2005 International Day for Disaster Reduction message followed a year of natural catastrophes including, among others, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed over 280,000 lives, drought and locust plagues across Africa, devastating hurricanes and cyclones in the United States and Caribbean (including Hurricane Katrina), and heavy flooding across Europe and Asia. Annan’s message focused on recognizing the potential of micro-finance to reduce disaster risk and to improve disaster management; he promoted disaster micro-insurance as an “innovative approach” in this field (Annan, 2005).