Leadway Assurance has called for stronger and more affordable climate risk solutions to protect Africa’s food systems as climate change increasingly threatens agricultural production, farmer incomes and investments across the continent.
The insurer made the call at the ninth edition of Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) 2026, convened by Sterling Bank, where industry stakeholders examined ways to improve food production, financing, processing, technology, trade and policy to build stronger agricultural value chains across Africa.
Speaking during a panel session titled ‘Climate Risk Management for Sustainability: Future-Proofing Africa’s Food System,’ Ayoola Fatona, global head, Agricultural Risk Solutions, Leadway Assurance, identified affordability and the trust deficit as major barriers limiting insurance adoption among smallholder farmers.
Fatona said addressing these barriers would require stronger partnerships capable of making insurance more accessible to farmers, particularly those most exposed to climate-related risks.
‘At Leadway, we have sought to address these challenges by building partnerships with organisations that share our commitment to advancing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and strengthening their resilience to climate-related risks,’ he said.
‘Through these collaborations, we have been able to mobilise funding to pre-finance insurance premiums, ensuring that farmers have the protection they need in place from the outset of the planting season, when their risk exposure is at its highest.’
According to Fatona, the approach has enabled the insurer to significantly expand agricultural insurance coverage.
‘In the 2025 wet season alone, our partnerships enabled us to mobilise over US$1.2 million to provide insurance coverage for more than 400,000 farmers, and we are continuing to build on that progress,’ he said.
He said affordability, however, would not be enough to drive sustained adoption if farmers lacked confidence that insurers would pay claims when losses occur.
‘Beyond affordability, we recognise that trust must be earned through action. That is why we remain committed to ensuring constant and rapid payouts, no matter how large, whenever insured events occur,’ Fatona said.
The challenge is particularly acute for smallholder farmers who often operate with limited financial buffers and are vulnerable to weather shocks, including drought, excessive rainfall and other climate-related events.
For insurers, expanding coverage to this segment also presents operational challenges, particularly in reaching farmers in remote communities and areas affected by insecurity.
Leadway said it is responding by deploying remote sensing and other technology-enabled solutions to assess farms virtually, understand their structures and farming practices, and maintain engagement with farmers where physical access is difficult.
The use of technology is expected to help insurers improve risk assessment and expand coverage while reducing some of the costs associated with traditional farm-level assessments.
The insurer’s participation at the Agriculture Summit Africa 2026 reflects its broader focus on using insurance to protect agricultural investments and strengthen resilience across the food value chain.
As African countries seek to increase food production, improve food security and develop stronger intra-African trade, industry stakeholders say managing climate-related risks will remain critical to protecting farmers, agribusinesses and the investments required to expand the sector.