T he Picture-Based Insurance (PBI) project was launched in 2015, with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM) and 3ie. The growing use of technology in developing countries has offered a potentially efficient solution.ĬGIAR r esearchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are testing whether a smartphone camera can help make insurance products more attractive for smallholder farmers. CGIAR researchers, working with the private sector and international development community, have searched for alternative types of insurance that do not require insurance companies to verify damage through in-person visits to smallholders’ fields.
Millions of smallholder farmers and herders around the world lack access to affordable, high-quality insurance, and their farms are often too small and too remote for insurers to visit fields and economically verify damage.
