Article
An IRIN feature, ‘Taking the risk out of farming’, on Kilimo Salama (‘safe farming’), a Syngenta Foundation scheme in Kenya that insures farmers’ seed, fertiliser and other inputs. Launched in Eldoret in the Rift Valley, cover costs 10 percent of the input price, shared between the farmer and the supplier. Agro-dealers register policies using mobile phones, farmers receive text confirmations, weather stations record rainfall, and payouts for drought or excess rain are sent through Safaricom’s M-PESA. The scheme began with 200 farmers in Laikipia and had reached 11,000 across Kenya by September.

