Agricultural Insurance: Palestine

Several challenges exist to develop a sustainable agricultural insurance system in Palestine, including, the lack of clarity over the roles and the ability of the public and private sectors in supporting agricultural insurance. Insurance companies have had little or no exposure to agricultural insurance, they lack the technical experience to design and rate such products. They have not entered this class of insurance to date because of the perceived high-risk exposures of agriculture, coupled with problems of potential adverse selection and moral hazard, and finally the very high costs of administering policies for small farmers. The Government regulator likewise lacks experience and expertise and has not developed any regulations that will assist with the development of agriculture insurance in Palestine.
The development of any market-based agriculture insurance products and programs in Palestine will require the active collaboration of both the private and public. It is unlikely that private commercial insurers in Palestine will be willing to commit resources by themselves to the high start-up costs involved in establishing the necessary agriculture insurance infrastructure to design, implement and manage any proposed new insurance scheme, and that they will require assistance from government and other public and private institutions.

Strategy

Our team of experts undertook an assessment of the available legislative framework for developing the agricultural insurance scheme with a view to establish an enabling environment and regulatory framework for private sector engagement in the agricultural sector. In particular, the experts (i) undertook a review of all laws related to insurance was undertaken, including agricultural insurance in Palestine and identified the weaknesses and gaps, (ii) conducted national consultations with all working parties related to the agricultural insurance system, including the private sector and relevant civil society organizations, (iii) identified the stakeholders to be included in the agricultural insurance administrative framework and the proposed coordination mechanisms between them to ensure synergies,(iv) identified the roles and responsibilities of government institutions, insurance companies and private sector and other proposed parties in this system, at the national and local level, (v) assessed the capacity and skills of PADRRIF’s staff in agricultural insurance-related aspects and identified weakness and gaps, and (vi) drafted the agricultural insurance administrative framework according to best practices with a view to the local context.

Transformation

A road map to implement agricultural insurance in Palestine was developed based on six solution pillars: Agricultural Risk Assessment, Public Institution Capacity Building, Data Market Infrastructure, Public Sector Technical Capacity Building, Partnership with the Private Sector, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Early actions included: (i) review of agricultural insurance supply and demand in Palestine, (ii) agricultural risk assessment, (iii) agricultural insurance product development, and (iv) institutional framework and challenges for agricultural insurance.

Agricultural Insurance

developing an agricultural insurance system

"Agriculture is our heritage and our future"

Palestine

Challenge

Strategy

Transformation