This Learning Journey was created with contributions from:
Pranav Prashad (the Facility) and Anuj Kumbhat and Sonu Agrawal (WRMS)
Project Basics
Weather Risk Management Services Ltd. (WRMS), a specialist in risk management for weather sensitive industries, set up a project to test a weather index insurance package called Comprehensive Agriculture Risk Management (CARM) in two remote districts in India: Howrah in West Bengal and Kamrup in Assam.
The two districts did not have the weather infrastructure required to underwrite weather contracts, disseminate weather information, or provide quality forecasts that allow farmers to take preventative measures to save crops. WRMS proposed installing approximately 50 automated weather stations. It planned to initially introduce a basic weather product for main crops and then provide hybrid solutions to reduce basis risk. WRMS planned to raise awareness about agricultural risk and insurance solutions amongst farmers and also provide weather data and forecasts.
The WRMS project sought to cover approximately 10,000 farmers in each district over a two-year period. To help communicate with consumers and gather primary information, WRMS set up hub offices in each district. One local Block Officer manages each block within the district. The Block Officer attends the farmer awareness workshops and meetings, and is responsible for communication with intermediaries.
CARM is delivered through rural banks, NGOs, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, and contract farming and input firms. Contracts are underwritten by ICICI Lombard and Agriculture Insurance Company. Most of the contracts are subsidized by the respective state. The WRMS project was executed in collaboration with state governments in the hope that the project will be replicated to provide full-scale CARM services in other areas.
Products and services offered under the CARM programme
|
Products or services |
Description |
|
Agriculture insurance |
Weather insurance and crop insurance products |
|
Information cards |
Farmers subscribing to information cards get daily SMS and vernacular voice calls informing them about the weather forecast of the region for the next two days, actual weather conditions over the past two days, and the price of their crop in the nearest mandis. |
|
Automated irrigation switch |
A device that allows farmers to run his/her tubewell remotely through mobile call/SMS. The irrigation switches are also linked to ambient and soil temperature and rainfall conditions. |
|
Soil profilers |
Gives the details of salt and nutrient levels in the soil. Farmers can optimize their fertilizer application based on the details provided by the soil profiler. |
Date of last Learning Journey update: March 2013
