ILO Caribbean provides insights on insurance schemes to protect farmer and fisherfolk livelihoods

As agricultural and fisheries workers continue to bear the brunt of climate risks such as extreme heat and strong storms, experts from across the Eastern Caribbean recently met in Barbados for a seminar to discuss how insurance schemes can safeguard their earnings from disruptions. 

ILO Caribbean was among the participating agencies at the three-day event (4 to 6 September 2024), which was hosted by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in partnership with the European Union, Caribbean Cooperation Facility, Global Gateway, and Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica De Administración Y Políticas Públicas (FIIAPP).

With the primary objective to enhance sustainability through insurance schemes tailored to Caribbean contexts, the seminar brought together representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Finance as well as the private sector and international organizations. 

Among the featured panelists was John Bliek, ILO Caribbean Specialist for Sustainable Enterprise Development and Job Creation, who led a discussion on inclusive parametric insurance schemes to highlight the benefits of livelihood protection policies using country examples. 

During the session Mr Bliek emphasized that it is vital to look both at the supply and demand side of microinsurance. "On the supply side, pending the introduction of the products by insurers, it is important to prepare the distribution channels, as for instance credit unions or cooperatives in more complex type of insurance as parametric insurance. Likewise, it will be crucial to work on demand side as insurance itself is complex, and there is a lack of risk coping or business management planning in general in the target group of fishers, farmers and their value chains,” he explained. 

"Parametric insurance, like the Livelihood Protection Policy is even harder to understand as it is based-on triggers and not on the evaluation of claims. To work on demand side, training must be delivered to target group to enable their integration of microinsurance as part of a broader risk management strategy. ILO's Impact Insurance Facility has worked on this product and conducted customer outreach programmes to assist with better awareness and understanding," continued Mr Bliek. 

The panel also included perspectives from Michael Church, Planning Officer, Ministry of Agriculture, Grenada; Kimica Hopkin, Policy Analyst, Ministry of Finance, Grenada; Damien Hinds, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA); Nashell Blackwood, Coconut Industry Board; Elizabeth Emanuel, Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF and COAST); and Orette Troy Duncan, GraceKennedy General Insurance Company Ltd. 

Participants gained valuable insights from global best practices with a focus on insurance models that effectively manage the risks posed by climate change. They also learned about policy trends to advance climate-resilient practices and systems that contribute to regional food security and economic stability.

Key areas of focus included climate-smart standards, biodiversity protection, water management technologies, and strategies for boosting private sector participation in agricultural production and distribution. As the conference concluded, participants developed a roadmap through a working session on viable strategies for agricultural and fisheries insurance in the OECS. The roadmap will inform solutions for reducing livelihood vulnerabilities and enhancing the region's self-reliance in food production, aligning with frameworks including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), OECS FAST Strategy and CARICOM’s 25 per cent by 2025 plan, which seeks to reduce food imports. The ILO supported the construction of this roadmap and sees a great potential task of enabling different elements with its constituents, working both at the supply and demand side.

The ILO has worked in the region with partners as part of the Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean (CRAIC) project that focuses on livelihood protection and act as a business continuity tool for small businesses. Covering both direct and indirect losses, it protects income losses due to extreme weather conditions such as excess rainfall and high-speed winds (caused by hurricanes). The product ensures transparent loss assessment and quick payouts (with 14 days) enabling small businesses to recover quickly as well as protect jobs of their employees. In addition, having an insurance cover allows businesses to increase their investments or engage in more productive activities, enabling better returns in the medium term. 

In short, the ILO is fully committed to continuing to work with the insurance sector and the beneficiaries to enable a more risk resilient Caribbean through research, technical assistance and policy advice. Insurance is a key factor in enabling the creation of more Decent Work as it not only protects but also enables more investment by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), farmers and fishers in their businesses and livelihood strategies. In response to the challenges in the region, the ILO believes that insurance can be a faciliatory mechanism at all micro, meso, and macro levels to assist with reducing household vulnerability, promoting stronger enterprises and help the governments in achieving public policy objects such and climate change adaptations.