More than three years since its official roll-out to market, parametric insurance product GK Weather Protect is pushing to expand its portfolio as it looks to onboard more farmers in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.

Offered by GK General Insurance (GKGI), a subsidiary of the larger GraceKennedy Group, the policy was designed to protect the livelihoods of farmers and fishers from the impact of extreme weather. In offering flexible solutions for managing weather-related risks, farmers can choose coverage against individual perils such as rainfall, drought and hurricane winds or even combine them for comprehensive protection. Coverage starts at $50,000 and can be increased in increments upward of $50,000 with no monthly payments required.

Having already enrolled some 400 farmers, Client and Partner Services Manager Orette Duncan told the Jamaica Observer in an interview this week that the hunt is now on to grow this number by thousands within the next year.

Through an ongoing subsidised programme, the insurance company has partnered with agricultural State groups, encouraging them to pay at least the first premium for farmers.

“Presently we have some action plans in place and we are working with government to see if we can get as many persons signed up as possible. We are also trying to see if by next year we can have about 25,000-30,000 farmers on the programme. Following the passage of Hurricane Beryl, we’re therefore hoping to see a higher take-up for this particular product,” he further said to the Business Observer.

“This is something that is very big for us at GKGI as well as the wider group and so we’re also looking at different ways in which we can reach out to each and every farmer to get more of them on board,” he stated, while noting that the company remains very strategic in its push to tap into the national database made up of more than 200,000 farmers.

Tight-lipped about just how much this product contributes in revenues annually, Duncan said it is considered to be a good policy, which, together with the other policies offered by GKGI, make significant contributions to group bottom line.

For the first three months of this year, revenues for group insurance segment totalled $3.6 billion with net profit of $376.5 million, a performance backed by strong out-turns from its GKGI, GK Life and Key Insurance businesses.

Having disbursed hundreds of thousands in payouts to farmers previously affected during flood rains last year, claims for parametric insurance the manager said are proceeded in accordance to trigger levels based on pre-defined weather data.

Similarly, as the product gets ready to compensate approximately 66 farmers for hurricane wind impacts across seven of the most affected parishes post-Beryl, Duncan said the company is also now busy completing those additional estimate for damage from rainfall effects.

“We’re now awaiting this information from our various partners such as RADA and other agricultural bodies, so that we can determine the number of farmers that would have been impacted as a result of rainfall. This information we expect to be presented to us sometime this week,” he stated.

At category three payout levels, compensation for damage from Hurricane Beryl he said should see farmers being offered about 15-20 per cent of the coverage purchased. Coverage at the moment extends from the minimum of $50,000 to as much as $5 million, with the bulk of purchases nestled between $50,000-$300,000.

The client and partner services manager, in encouraging farmers to secure as much coverage to protect their investments in the event of future events, said this is also likely to yield a better recovery for those badly affected by various perils.

“Farmers want to ensure that in the event where perils occur and in receiving compensation, it will be something that is going to allow them to get back on their feet in the shortest possible time. The GK Weather Protect product offers this type of cushioning, allowing our farmers to be able to bounce back as quickly as possible and to bring back their farms to the desired harvesting levels in order to ensure that continued produce supply,” Duncan said.