The challenges of index-based insurance for food security in developing countries : Proceedings of a technical workshop organised by the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI, Earth Institute, Columbia University), JRC Ispra, Italy, 2 and 3 May 2012

In the wake of the Sahelian droughts and the resulting food insecurity crises of the 1970s and mid-1980s, the international community and national governments alike have focused on early warning systems as a mechanism to prevent famines and avert acute malnutrition. Thirty years later, food insecurity still prevails in many areas of the globe, amidst rapidly evolving geopolitics. A different and innovative way to tackle the problem of the fluctuating food availability attracted the attention of development agencies and governments in developing countries some fifteen years ago: index-based crop insurance. Many pilot projects have experimented about every possible insurance design under diverse conditions, involving farmers, cooperatives, micro-credit institutions, governments, commercial banks, insurance and reinsurance companies. However, the indices, which play a pivotal role in the insurance schemes, also constitute one of their main weaknesses. Very little crop modelling and forecasting knowledge is put to use in index design, and only occasionally do remote sensing data and advanced statistical methods play a part. This volume explores the overall picture of index-based insurance, from index design to its socio-economic environment, identifying at each stage current challenges to scaling from pilot project to real world implementation.