Strengthening climate resilience in Thailand by supporting rice farmers

Thailand is one of the world’s top rice exporters. Rice farming is often the only source of income for many families. However, Thailand is particularly susceptible to droughts and floods, which can have a devastating impact on farmers, their families and the broader rural population.

To cushion the rural population against destructive weather conditions, a Government Disaster Relief Programme was launched in 2005 to provide financial assistance to farmers affected by disasters. However, financial assistance provided through this programme was not sufficient to fully compensate the losses incurred by rice farmers.

To help vulnerable farmers more effectively, Swiss Re has worked actively with local authorities to find ways of overcoming these obstacles and scaling up the scheme by deploying its risk knowledge and reinsurance capacity effectively.

To offer further financial assistance to farmers whose crops have been damaged by destructive weather conditions, the Thai Rice Insurance Scheme was launched. Swiss Re has been offering reinsurance capacity to this insurance scheme since its inception in 2011.

The scheme operates in a public-private partnership model and is managed by Thai General Insurance Association (www.tgia.org) on behalf of its members who locally retain 20% while the remaining 80% is reinsured.