{"id":1812,"date":"2020-01-29T13:46:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T13:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/en\/?p=1812"},"modified":"2020-01-29T13:58:42","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T13:58:42","slug":"israeli-startup-helps-farmers-cope-with-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/en\/tech_innovation\/israeli-startup-helps-farmers-cope-with-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Startup Helps Farmers Cope with Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"OKO Farm Insurance\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g_-pO96EDCI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Farmers in African countries are strongly dependent on the success of their businesses to make ends meet, but the effects of climate change, such as drought and floods, present immense challenges. Countries in Eastern Africa like Mozambique and Zimbabwe were seriously affected by two cyclones in 2019, within just weeks of each other. Cyclones Idai and Kenneth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/global-health\/climate-and-people\/floods-drought-challenges-facing-mozambiques-farmers-cyclone\/\">destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth in crops and displaced many people from their homes.<\/a> With agriculture being the primary source of income for so many people in this region, a natural disaster often entails a months-long struggle only to get back on one\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Mali, maize and cotton are the main exports, and\nlocal farmers depend solely on rainfall for the irrigation of their crops.\nHowever, <a href=\"http:\/\/fews.net\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/reports\/fs2012-3105.pdf\">since 2000, rainfall\nthere has been significantly lower than in the early 20th century.<\/a> With the climate changing\naround the world, there are many dry months in Mali that are negatively\nimpacting farms. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-019-49167-0\">West African countries\nhave lost billions in US dollars due to the decrease in crop yield over recent\ndecades.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>What is OKO?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OKO, named after an African god, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oko.finance\/\">an Israeli start-up that helps Malian farmers\nsecure their income despite these climate-related issues.<\/a> The company is based in Tel\nAviv and is part of a hub called MadanesTech Innovation Labs, which is\ndedicated to insurance technologies. Through the resources and technologies that\nfarmers in Mali can access, OKO compensates them for losses caused by climate\nchange, thus providing them assistance in times of financial hardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe look at startups, like OKO, which provide\ninnovative parametric (index-based) insurance solutions. This is an old concept\nthat gains momentum with the use of deep learning actuarial science for precise\nrisk aggregation calculations, and automated smart contracts to carry out\ninsurance processes (e.g., claims assessment and settlement),&#8221; says Shai\nLevy, CEO of MadanesTech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simon Schwall, the founder of OKO, is a Luxembourg native who was educated in Paris and Singapore, and has always been interested in helping communities in need. He helped build huts in Mongolia at age 18 and later worked in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Egypt, and Senegal with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bimamobile.com\/about-bima\/about-us-new\/\">BIMA, a micro-insurance company that uses mobile devices to provide life and health insurance to families in developing countries.<\/a> Schwall then moved to Israel and decided to take his experiences in helping underprivileged communities and start a company to specifically help struggling farmers. He wanted his work to help people around the world and felt that \u201ccrop insurance was an obvious choice, as the vast majority of the population in emerging countries relies on agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"660\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/anaya-katlego-CXKk4zU7anE-unsplash-1024x660.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1813\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/anaya-katlego-CXKk4zU7anE-unsplash-1024x660.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/anaya-katlego-CXKk4zU7anE-unsplash-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/anaya-katlego-CXKk4zU7anE-unsplash-768x495.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/anaya-katlego-CXKk4zU7anE-unsplash-1536x990.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/anaya-katlego-CXKk4zU7anE-unsplash-2048x1320.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>Through the resources and technologies that farmers in Mali can access, OKO compensates them for losses caused by climate change, thus providing them assistance in times of financial hardship. .Photo by&nbsp;Anaya Katlego&nbsp;on&nbsp;Unsplash<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Everything is Done Remotely<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OKO provides <a href=\"https:\/\/ccafs.cgiar.org\/themes\/index-based-insurance\">index-based insurance<\/a> to Malian farmers by\nanalyzing publicly available data on weather patterns from past decades and in\nreal-time in conjunction with data on crop yields, to predict changes in\nproduction. Schwall explains that before the rainy season, OKO determines\nthresholds of rainfall below which loss in production is inevitable. If these\nthresholds are not reached, \u201cit automatically triggers the validation of a\nclaim payment. At the end of the season, [OKO looks] at the sum of the amounts\n\u2018unlocked\u2019 and [they] communicate these amounts to the insurance company, which\nusually pays within 1 week.\u201d Farmers do not need to make a claim or contact\nanyone to receive the compensation. By automatically providing compensation to\nthese farmers, OKO guarantees that people are not adversely impacted by a\nsituation in which they have no control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OKO is able to send money to farmers through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2019\/02\/fintech-in-sub-saharan-africa-a-potential-game-changer\">a system already in\nplace for many African countries.<\/a> This system provides the means for\npeople to make transactions using their mobile devices. Farmers can simply sign\nup and pay for OKO\u2019s insurance service by using their cell phones. OKO sends\nmoney over when they determine low crop yield. Everything is done remotely and\nthrough a mobile device. Similar to some applications that connect to a bank\naccount and allow people to transfer money to others\u2019 accounts electronically,\ntheir devices have money attached to them with no need for internet access or a\nbank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Index insurance is a very efficient way of insuring\nfarmers without having to address the problems in person. Personal assistance\nis only needed in the beginning, when a farmer signs up for the insurance.\nBecause OKO uses publicly available data to track rainfall and crop yield, they\ndo not need to send people to Mali to evaluate farms every year. The use of\npublic data also helps prevent the risk of insurance fraud. Since farmers are\nnot making claims regarding their crops and OKO is simply using facts, they are\nable to trust that their information is completely accurate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Plans to Expand in Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While OKO currently only provides crop insurance to\nfarmers in Mali, they \u201cplan to launch in two new markets in 2020, and be active\nin seven countries within five years,\u201d according to Schwall. \u201cThe challenge is\nto find the funding to fuel this growth, as the revenues only come once [they]\nhave a large enough customer base.\u201d To achieve this growth, OKO sends representatives\nto help farmers sign up to receive insurance, which fortunately is a very easy\nand user-friendly service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OKO does not combat climate change or give farmers more crops, but is a system that is very much needed, nonetheless. Low crop yields caused by changing rainfall patterns is a pressing issue that must be addressed since climate change will continue to exacerbate this problem, and underprivileged and poor communities are the first to suffer the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This ZAVIT article was also published in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jewishjournal.com\/blogs\/309719\/israeli-startup-helps-farmers-cope-with-climate-change\/\">The Jewish Journal&nbsp;<\/a>on 01\/21\/201<\/em>2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Farmers in African countries are strongly dependent on the success of their businesses to make ends meet, but the effects &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":1822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"post-meta-fields":{"_edit_lock":["1583666865:11"],"_oembed_626ad2958e5c5a90cb99c9849d440b43":["<iframe title=\"OKO Farm Insurance\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g_-pO96EDCI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"],"_oembed_time_626ad2958e5c5a90cb99c9849d440b43":["1583666859"],"_thumbnail_id":["1822"],"_edit_last":["11"],"subtitle":["Rural communities in Africa rely heavily on agriculture. However, the impacts of climate change have severely affected the crop yield in recent years. OKO, an Israeli startup, is working to make sure that these farmers do not suffer economically from crop loss"],"_subtitle":["field_59d3d36ea7fe1"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2001,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions\/2001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}