NEW DELHI, Dec. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Unexpected rainfall in various states has harmed the ready-for-harvesting crops such as rice, soya bean, cotton, pulses, and vegetables at a time when India is facing a likely food grain shortfall due to decreased sowing of Kharif crops, particularly paddy. Additionally, unseasonal rain is likely to cause damage to 15 to 20% of summer-seeded crops. India's millions of rural smallholders are expected to be hit by bad crops. As a result, the need & demand for crop insurance is likely to increase.
Crop insurance guards farmers against two potential losses: the loss of crops – caused by natural disasters, and the loss of income – caused by a drop in the price of agricultural products. Parametric Crop Insurance, however, is based on predetermined characteristics like rainfall rather than crop yield. Through Parametric Crop Insurance offerings, farmers can get faster claim settlements during natural or weather calamities like unseasonal rainfall.
While acknowledging the challenges in traditional insurance models, recently, Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister, was reported emphasizing the importance of crop insurance and recommending active innovations in the Agri-fintech ecosystem.
Absolute's first-of-its-kind DIY insurance platform, built on its AgCloud ecosystem Upaj, is emerging as a concrete solution to farmers' problems, establishing safety nets in place to shield all types of farmers from catastrophic weather events. With DIY insurance marketplace, farmers will have the freedom to select parametric insurance products from several insurers available at their respective pin codes.
Upaj, world's first universal AgCloud ecosystem by Absolute, provides full-stack agronomy solutions to farmers to get crop advisories through AI & ML. It has enabled the feature of crop insurance for added security of the farmers. Creating India's first DIY marketplace for parametric crop insurance, Upaj by Absolute allows farmers to custom-create their own insurance cover for the amount they want and helps farmers to calculate the insurance premium for specific crops, pertaining to their areas and the coverage amount.
Sourabh Bagla, Director of Upaj, Absolute said, “Crop insurance programs have existed in the past, but they have been plagued with limited adoption and slower evaluation rates. With a tech-driven strategy and a focus on parametric insurance, we intend to speed up the procedure while retaining its accuracy. We believe that by establishing a sustainable ecosystem that intervenes at every stage of the farming life cycle, we can support resilient producers to thrive by shifting to sustainable techniques.”
Anupam Shrey, Founder, Digisafe said, “With this collaboration, we aim to bolster the government's efforts in the existing insurance schemes and complement them with our services for deeper rural penetration. Our motivation is derived from ensuring a sustainable and better livelihood to the farmers economically, as we believe that they play a crucial role in driving the economic wheels of the country.”
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