A new research brief by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) demonstrates that index insurance shows considerable promise, especially in settings where conventional insurance to cover potentially catastrophic herd losses does not exist.

However, index insurance products cannot practically provide complete risk coverage to policyholders and uptake of some index insurance products has been low, raising questions about their attractiveness, scalability and sustainability. At the same time, development institutions and organizations have invested millions in developing and piloting new index insurance products because there are potentially large benefits from even modestly reducing risk for agricultural households in developing countries.

Download the research brief