ENSO and agriculture: exploring the risks for insurance portfolios

For the Peruvian fishers who named it back in the 1500s, El Niño brought low-nutrient warm water pools to their coastline, gradually decimating their fish stocks.

Centuries later, the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon continues to concern farmers, food security experts and agriculture insurers due to its causal effect on droughts, floods, and extreme temperatures around the world. In 1983, the world experienced the most intense maize yield failure on modern record.  Simultaneous harvest failures were recorded across several maize producing regions. These impacts were driven by the 1982-1983 El Niño event, one of the most severe ENSO episodes in the past 150 years.

This report explores the potential impacts of ENSO and its three phases (El Niño, La Niña and neutral) on agricultural production, and particularly its relevance to agricultural re/insurance portfolios.

Its purpose is to serve as a useful reference for underwriters, actuaries, reinsurance buyers and brokers and provide insights on the potential impacts of El Niño and La Niña events on the agriculture re/insurance market.

Download the report below to find out more about:

• The El Niño and La Niña phases of ENSO
• Impacts on rainfall and agriculture
• How the re/insurance sector can respond
• How to protect your agriculture portfolio with Swiss Re

Our reinsurance capacity, deep risk insights and technology-driven solutions help you to protect your agricultural portfolios.

By leveraging our expertise, knowledge and innovative crop growth model, you can help empower your portfolio with key insights and unlock new opportunities.

Both mono-liners and multi-liners can get the coverage they need across the agricultural sector through facultative, treaty, proportional and non-proportional offerings. We’re here to help protect your portfolio with traditional indemnity-based and parametric solutions that can be tailored to meet your unique requirements.