Is Insurance for Farmers Coming to Belize?

Insurance in the agriculture sector is uncommon as it is considered a risky undertaking for any institution providing financial protection against loss or harm.  Notwithstanding the chances of loss to the insurer, the World Bank is looking at the likelihood of creating a policy for Belizean farmers.  Prime Minister Barrow provided details of a meeting held with Tahseen Sayed, World Bank’s Country Director for Caribbean countries.

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“While it’s not usual, there is already a precedent set and the possibility is strong that they can design an insurance scheme for the farmers in Belize.  They would provide the coverage and now nobody is going to give you insurance for agriculture and I know that the Caribbean, the CCRIF, that facility is talking about trying to design new instruments but that will take a while.  What Ms. Sayed said to me is that more likely than not they can do it and they would move with the greatest possible speed.  She wants to come back in January and by then she wants to be able to present me with a roadmap that would include deliverables that had already been achieved.  So I think that’s wonderful news.  The second area that they want to absolutely get involved with now is the social sector.  They’re impressed with what we have already done, the conditional cash transfer or food pantry initiative and they want to design additional programs so that we can greatly expand the social safety net, the social protection measures.  We all agreed that to fight poverty is to fight crime, so while it’s good in and of itself that we expand the social safety net, there is also this additional boon that get in terms of doing that.”