Pula

Smallholder farmers produce roughly 30% of the world’s food, yet they remain among the people most exposed to climate change and least connected to the finance, markets and services that could help them adapt. Across Africa, one failed season can erase a family’s income in an instant.

A single drought or flood can leave farmers unable to repay loans, buy seed for the next harvest, or feed their own families. For those already working on narrow margins, such a shock can push a household deeper into poverty or force them to abandon farming altogether. Farmers and governments had few tools beyond emergency aid to combat this, and early attempts to sell low-cost insurance directly to farmers proved too expensive to distribute at scale.

This is a crisis with global stakes. As Africa’s population grows faster than anywhere else on Earth, the world needs its smallholder farmers to keep farming and feeding their communities. Without protection against climate shocks, millions of farmers risk being pushed out of agriculture just when the world needs food security most.

Pula is changing the story by making agricultural insurance work at scale. Pula does this by embedding insurance into programmes farmers already use, such as government agricultural support, seed and fertiliser schemes, and farm loans; so protection reaches them automatically rather than requiring a separate purchase.

At the heart of Pula’s model is Area Yield Index Insurance. Working with governments, insurers and agricultural partners, Pula uses trained field teams, field data and satellite insights data to track crop performance across entire farming areas and compare it with historical averages. When a harvest falls below an agreed threshold due to drought, flood or other covered climate risks, payouts are triggered for all insured farmers in that area automatically, without each farmer needing to prove an individual loss. Families can replant and bounce back quickly rather than waiting months for aid or falling into debt.

The impact is significant. Research cited by Pula found that 87% of insured farmers went on to invest more in their farms, no longer forced to limit investment because one bad season could wipe out their livelihoods. The model has already protected over US$2.8 billion in farming investment and paid US$136.5 million directly to farmers across Africa.

Beyond insurance, the data infrastructure Pula has built creates new possibilities. The same field-level records and satellite insights that power insurance can help farmers establish a verifiable economic identity – something many lack in formal systems. This unlocks access to credit, government subsidies, compliance with international supply chain requirements such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, and essential services including healthcare and education. Pula is turning climate-risk protection into an entry point for broader financial and social inclusion.

Working with eight African governments and more than 100 distribution partners, Pula has reached 24 million farmers and is now targeting 100 million by 2030 – directly contributing to the global positive tipping point of 200 million smallholders reached with agricultural extension programmes by 2030.

As it scales, Pula isn’t just shifting climate risk away from farmers, but also supporting across governments, insurers, lenders and agricultural markets; building the digital rails that enable smallholder farmers to participate more fully in the formal economy.