by Ejidiah Wangui


NAIROBI Under Armour Curry 5 High Men's Black Red , Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Whenever drought ravages Kenya,images from the northern parts of the country are those of dustyplains dotted with carcasses of livestock that succumbed to theharsh elements.


Cattle herders in these regions are the hardest hit as theironly source of income is wiped out by natural calamities they haveno power to control.


But amid the misery and despair, efforts to cushion theseherders against the vagaries of weather have started to bearfruit.


Vera Rosauer, a communication officer at the World Bank, toldXinhua this week that the Kenya Livestock Insurance Program (KLIP),an index insurance that insures vulnerable pastoralists in thenorthern counties in the East African nation, has so far paid outabout 5.3 million U.S dollars to over 20,000 pastoralists in theregion.


"In the 2016-2017 season, due to a severe drought, KLIP had twobig payouts. One in February to about 12,000 pastoral households of2.1 million dollars and one in August to 11,500 pastoral householdsof 3.1 million dollars. This has helped reach about 100,000 peoplegiven the extended size of households in the North," she said.


According to the World Bank official, unlike previousinterventions where responses involved mobilizing emergency reliefwhich would arrive too late to save the animals,


KLIP provides protection starting at the beginning of a season,and if a drought strikes, payouts happen quickly to beneficiariesto allow them to buy water or food to keep the livestock alive.


"It is all about prevention, rather than cure, and speed ofintervention. It is also a transparent and predictable way toprovide disaster relief which leverages private sector expertiseand capital," said Rosauer.


Kenya is exposed to severe droughts which strike about everythree to five years. In northern Kenya, livestock represent 70percent of households' incomes.


When drought occurs, households are at risk of losing theirlivestock, and their main source of food and income.


During the severe droughts between 2008 and 2011, the Kenyaneconomy lost heavily. The livestock sector was hit hardest.


According to Rosauer, Kenya is one of the very few countries inSub-Saharan Africa where the index insurance program has thepotential to scale up to attain commercial sustainability. Ethiopiatoo has a similar program.


Launched in October 2015 in Wajir and Turkana where about 5,000pastoral households were covered, the program spread tentacles inOctober 2016 to cover Marsabit, Mandera, Tana River and IsioloCounties and insured about 14,000 pastoral households.


The central government, Rosauer said, pays insurance premiumsfor county-selected pastoralists, and private insurance companiesdevelop the insurance policy and pay claims when they arise.


"In 2016-2017, a pool of seven insurance companies reinsured bySwiss Re provided insurance cover. The insurance only providescover for the equivalent of five cows, and targets the mostvulnerable pastoralists," she explained.


In the program, counties are broken down into zones with similarclimate and soil conditions called "unit areas of insurance."


A satellite reads every 10 days the level of pasture in thesezones to produce a vegetation index, which is used as a proxy forthe health of livestock.


When the vegetation index falls below a pre-determined level,all the insured beneficiaries in one zone receive a payout. Thepayout amount depends on the degradation of the pasture.


"Payments are made primarily by M-Pesa, and by using agentsdeveloped by some banks in the northern counties," noted Rosauer.M-Pesa is the most popular mobile payment choice in Kenya.


KLIP is implemented by the Government of Kenya through theMinistry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Countygovernments.


The World Bank has provided technical support to the governmentof Kenya to design KLIP in partnership with the InternationalLivestock Research Institute (ILRI), and Financial SectorDeepening-Kenya (FSD). Enditem


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