The Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) together with RESONANZ Lab developed an ICT weather insurance solution for smallholder farmers in Africa called Kilimo Salama.
The solution revolutionised how micro-insurance policies were collected and paid-out by using mobile technology, QR codes, SMS and mobile payments.

The ICT solution for Kilimo Salama was designed and managed by RESONANZ Lab. The solution involved a mobile phone app and managed server. Insurance policies were registered on the phone by scanning a QR code and entering details of the farmer and nearest weather station. The information was then transmitted to the server where an insurance policy was generated and the policy details SMSed to the farmer. Data enabled weather stations were then monitored to gauge rainfall levels across the country. If there was insufficient rainfall the affected farmers would receive an insurance payout directly on their phone via a mobile payment. The entire policy creation and claim process was performed quickly, efficiently and without any of the usual time-consuming paperwork.

Highlights

• As part of the project RESONANZ Lab co-created a patent with the SFSA for the solution.
• In 2012 Kilimo Salama won the Financial Times award for technology in sustainable finance.
• Kilimo Salama is the largest micro-insurance scheme in Africa and has since been spin-off as ACRE Africa.

Additional details can be found here: http://www.syngentafoundation.org/index.cfm?pageID=562