WRMS received a €2.1 million grant from ISF, and KfW Bank to help small farmers fight climate change.
Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS) has received a grant of €2.1 million (approximately ₹17 crore) from the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), which is managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS) and funded by the KfW Development Bank, to help smallholder farmers fight climate change by developing and implementing yield guarantee solutions.
Ingen Technologies, a provider of weather station data, is also involved in the project, which aims to improve the resilience of 100,000 smallholder farmers in India to climate risks, incentivize smart agricultural risk management practices, and scale up the yield guarantee solution for crops such as cotton, chili, paddy, wheat, and potato.
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WRMS’s SecuFarm solution assures farmers a 10% increase in benchmark yields if they follow the package of practice (PoP) communicated with them via the SecuFarm app. If the actual output remains below the benchmark yield due to a harsh weather attack or crop disease, the farmer is rewarded by WRMS in proportion to the loss, according to Anuj Kumbhat, the company’s founder and CEO.
Risk reduction measures
This unique concept allows insurance companies to incorporate critical farm-level risk reduction measures into the insurance product design and incentivizes wise and sustainable farming practices. This permits farmers who implement the proper farm-level risk management measures to receive a premium discount or a better-guaranteed output.
‘With this new partnership with InsuResilience Solutions Fund, we are now poised to take our SecuFarm services to the next level and serve smallholders to the fullest extent possible,’ Kumbhat added.
WRMS has provided SecuFarm to over 25,000 farmers in 22 states, including Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. While WRMS contracts farmers directly in certain states, in others, the company connects with farmers through partnerships with farmer producer companies, agriculture input companies, and local banks.
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Kumbhat stated that in areas of numerous States where farmers face situations such as greater soil salinity and other issues, WRMS is aiding them to enhance soil health and promote alternative planting mechanisms.
‘With ISF financing, we will reach out to over 100,000 smallholder farmers and construct digital SecuFarms to have a greater economic, social, and environmental impact,’ Kumbhat added.
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