Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE)

The Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE) is a mobile-enabled index insurance program in Africa that links smallholder farmers to insurance through the purchase of agricultural inputs. The program utilizes solar-powered weather stations and mobile money platforms to trigger immediate compensation for yield losses caused by drought, excess rain, and storms.

• By 2018, ACRE had insured more than 1.7 million farmers across Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, covering over USD 180 million in value. The program covers various crops, including maize, sorghum, coffee, sunflower, wheat, cashew nuts, and potato, against risks such as storms, excess rain, and drought.
• The insurance model relies on a 50% premium subsidy for smallholder farmers, with the remaining half paid by agribusiness partners. Distribution is achieved by bundling insurance with crop seeds from certified distributors, often as a scratch card attached to seed bags.
• Mobile money platforms, such as M-PESA, are critical to the program's efficiency, enabling faster registration, more accurate geo-tagging of farms, reduced operational costs, and rapid claims settlement. This is supported by high mobile adoption in Africa, with over 500 million registered mobile accounts in 2021.
• The expansion of index insurance is constrained by a lack of robust local climate data needed to quantify risk and identify thresholds. While African regulators have generally been reactive, the CIMA region—comprising 14 Central and West African countries—has regulations that favor agricultural microinsurance integrated with mobile money.
• Government subsidy schemes support the sector, with Kenya and Senegal specifically offering a 50% subsidy on insurance premiums.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2021). Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE). https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/gca-africa-adaptation-finance/case_studies/agriculture-and-climate-risk-enterprise-acre-2/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE). 2021. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/gca-africa-adaptation-finance/case_studies/agriculture-and-climate-risk-enterprise-acre-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE) |date=16 September 2021 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/gca-africa-adaptation-finance/case_studies/agriculture-and-climate-risk-enterprise-acre-2/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2021agriculture, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE)}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/gca-africa-adaptation-finance/case_studies/agriculture-and-climate-risk-enterprise-acre-2/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }