Syngenta Pakistan successfully pilots revolutionary crop insurance program

Farmers were handed over the insurance cheques at a recently held ceremony

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Syngenta Pakistan Limited, a leading agriculture innovation and technology company – providing crop protection, biologicals, seeds, crop-enhancement products and digital services to millions of Pakistani farmers, has successfully piloted a weather and parametric index-based crop insurance program in partnership with Salaam Takaful Limited. As part of the pilot, farmers of autumn crop from the Arifwala & Vehari regions in Punjab were provided with payout cheques at a recently held ceremony with an average payout amount of Rs. 8,500 per farmer. The program has been highly appreciated by the local farmers who were of the view that this intervention will transform the farmer-community’s quality of life and catalyze the progress on making Pakistan’s agriculture sector more robust and climate resilient. This crop insurance program aims to safeguard farmers against the impacts of climate change by employing digital technologies and is in line with Syngenta Pakistan’s farmer-centric vision of “One Team, One Dream, Farmers’ Future” to empower the farmers by creating an ecosystem that addresses all of their key pain points. Addressing the ceremony, Zeeshan Hasib Baig – General Manager Syngenta Pakistan – said: “Agriculture is one of the most adversely affected sectors due to climate change. This year excessive heat and rainfalls have contributed to low yields of Wheat, Corn and Mango. Amidst this challenge being faced by farmers, Syngenta Pakistan is standing alongside its famers by providing them Weather Index Based Parametric Crop Insurance. On one side, Syngenta is providing top quality Crop Protection products to farmers and on the other providing protection to their crops through its crop insurance partner. Syngenta Pakistan’s corn crop insurance pilot project this year resulted in 50% payouts to the growers due to unusual rains owing to climate change. This initiative is part of Syngenta’s farmer-centric vision through which we are trying to address farmer’s needs and solving problems they are facing.”