OKO’s new insurance service is making a big splash for its inaugural season in Mali, reimbursing the losses suffered by farmers. A good example of the possibilities offered by mobile and satellite technologies to provide an essential service to the most vulnerable populations. Heavy rains in Mali in July and August had disastrous consequences for farmers. However, some farmers can rejoice: they insured their fields at the start of the season, and immediately received compensation for their losses.
Crop insurance is a new service brought by the young innovative company OKO. OKO has established a partnership with Orange and SUNU Assurances, and launched commercially in January 2020. Their service is available to all Orange users, simply by dialing #144#343#.
To popularize Oko, agents met with farmers from February to June in the regions of Koulikoro, Ségou, Sikasso, Kayes and Bamako and nearly 5,000 farmers signed up.
A few months later, the season is over. The OKO teams are back in different municipalities to meet
the insured producers and inform them about the adverse weather recorded in their localities. And
the news is generally good: excessive rains were observed in the majority of the communes during
the 2020 rainy season. OKO’s clients, who paid around 6000 F per hectare to get insured, will receive compensation from OKO ranging from 25,000 FCFA to 159,500 FCFA per hectare, depending on the severity. In total, more than 38 million CFA Francs are distributed by OKO. This achievement is made possible by OKO’s partnership with the insurer SUNU, and the mobile operator Orange.
Lassina Ouattara, director of SUNU in Mali says she is “happy to work with OKO because OKO has an innovative solution to bring insurance to the farming community.” He keeps on going: “By building farmers’ confidence through the rapid payment of compensations, OKO has become a solid partner for us in Mali.” The same positive feedback from Orange Money, whose general manager Aicha Touré states: ” For two years now, we have been working with OKO, who has demonstrated its ability to use the Orange Money platform to launch a service that is both innovative and inclusive. We will continue to support OKO in its mission and we share OKO’s ambition to offer accessible insurance services to the agricultural sector”.
The crops insured for next season will be: Corn, Sorghum, millet, sesame, cotton.
