From indemnity, to index-based, and to group weather insurance contracts

Offering insurance products that can help poor farmers decrease exposure to weather risks remains a major unresolved challenge. In as much as the microfinance revolution was successful at innovating new financial products for the poor, the micro-insurance revolution is largely stalled, with new products being offered but general lack of uptake without large subsidies. This brief discusses promising options using index-based group insurance combined with indemnity-based insurance among group members.