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Nigeria’s agriculture sector loses about N20 billion annually due to failure of insurance companies to create products to cover small farmers, stakeholders have revealed.
They hinted the need for insurance products to aggregate small farmers.
It was at the 2018 national insurance brokers’ conference and exhibition in Lagos that they gathered to urge insurance companies to deal with poultry and rice farmers associations, to enhance agricultural produce.
According to the executive director, Zynosism, Dr. Kolade Adebayo, who spoke on the theme, ‘Insurance industry: Survive, Thrive’, the farming industry is faced with several risks but lacks the cover for most of the risks.
“The absence of insurance products for small farmers is costing the agriculture sector over N20 billion annually. We need insurance products that will aggregate small farmers cooperatively and provide cover for them. As such, insurance companies need to deal with poultry associations, rice farmers associations and so on, so that agricultural produce can be enhanced,” he said.
Chairman, SME Trade Group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Biodun Oladapo, said that “the livestock business is still stunted in Nigeria because over the years there has not been insurance support” to give it a boost.
