Filling in the blanks: How to address data gaps to develop better livestock insurance for smallholder farmers

For smallholder farmers, risks like diseases and malnutrition due to drought could kill their animals—and impact their livelihoods. Livestock insurance helps to cushion the blow, increasing their resilience.

A key challenge in developing livestock insurance in emerging markets is a lack of reliable data on the risks. As a result, insurers may offer unaffordable insurance, or none at all.

As part of the IFAD-funded Managing Risks for Rural Development: Promoting Microinsurance Innovations project, the MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman piloted and launched a dairy cow insurance product in Georgia. They worked with local partners to collect data and incorporate it into insurance product pricing. This Insurance Toolkit brief presents the activities and lessons learned.