Afcacia

Kenyan agritech startup Pula Advisors is one of the 24 organisations that have signed up to US President Joe Biden’s Sh927.6 billion private sector plan to support smallholder farmers in the face of mounting climate change challenges.

Pula last week joined the list of companies seeking to support small-scale farmers in the region following an appeal by US Vice President Kamala Harris when she visited three African countries.

Under the plan known as President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE), Pula will extend its insurance coverage to 100 million smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa.

The initiative will be attained through provision of insurance coverage worth up to $20 billion by 2026, Pula said in a statement.

The US’ call for support of the farmers in the region is critical, coming at a time Sub-Sahara Africa is bearing the brunt of climate change that has severely curtailed food production, resulting in depressed earnings and pushing up the current high prices.

“These new investments and initiatives will generate significant economic benefits while addressing African nations’ pressing needs resulting from the climate crisis, including food security challenges, by helping to lift over 116 million farmers and promote climate-smart agriculture,” the White House stated.

Pula protects small scale farmers against the risk of financial losses brought about by climate-related occurrences.The smallholder farmers pay Sh2,650 ($20) for Sh26,504 ($200) of insurance coverage.

Global payment firm MasterCard has also promised to link 15 million farmers in Africa to the Community Pass platform by 2027. The digital platform uses data such as production volume, sales and transactions to help farmers access credit, markets and extension services while raising their returns.

More than Sh927.64 billion ($7 billion) has been committed towards coming up with solutions to bolster climate resilience, shift to clean energy and increase agricultural production.

In addition to the commitment by the companies on the US campaigns, the Biden-Harris Administration has also announced new federal funding and initiatives to expand access to climate information services and enhance climate resilience and adaptation in the continent.

The agriculture sector has been particularly vulnerable to unreliable weather patterns with farmers frequently counting losses.