Blue Marble Microinsurance – a consortium of nine companies including Zurich, AIG, Aspen, and Hamilton – has renewed its weather index insurance program for smallholder coffee farmers in Colombia and expanded the coverage significantly.
The CaféSeguro program provides insurance coverage for severe rainfall and drought during the coffee crop’s developmental stages when it is most vulnerable to weather shocks.
Blue Marble launched the program in August 2018 in partnership with Nespresso, an operating unit of the Nestlé Group.
Through this program, Blue Marble serves about 3,275 smallholder farmers, representing a 46% increase since last year.
The consortium also saw a 100% renewal rate among existing cooperatives and added a new cooperative, Alto Occidente, to the program.
In its first year, CaféSeguro protected 2,250 farmers belonging to the Aguadas, Norte de Caldas and Andes coffee cooperatives in Caldas, Colombia, with the majority of farmers receiving payouts in the first year following a severe drought.
“Growing this program has been a collaborative effort,” said Joan Lamm-Tennant, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Marble. “We are grateful for the support of our partners, including Nespresso, Caféxport and Seguros Bolivar. Together, we are reducing vulnerabilities in the lives of smallholder farmers.”
Cesar Julio Díaz, President of the Aguadas, Norte de Caldas and Alto Occidente cooperatives, also commented: “CaféSeguro is important to our coffee farmers because it protects them against adverse weather events. It guarantees their continual agricultural activity while improving their livelihoods.”
Blue Marble said it plans continue to expand the CaféSeguro program in Colombia through the coffee cooperative model.
It will also explore new business models to serve additional smallholder farmers, while advancing plans to scale the program to other crops and countries.
Blue Marble is a UK corporation owned by eight insurance entities, which focuses on incubating and implementing microinsurance solutions that support the economic advancement of underserved populations.
The owners include: American International Group, Inc., Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited, Grupo ASSA, Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC together with Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd., Old Mutual Emerging Markets Limited, Transatlantic Holdings Inc., and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.
