Project overview

R4 is a rural resilience initiative which combines four risk-management elements to support smallholder farmers: risk retention, risk transfer, risk management and risk reduction (the 4 Rs).

The problem

Smallholder farmers are being significantly impacted by climate change, which is aggravating key structural challenges such as poor access to agricultural inputs, financial services, and assets.

Petros Malunnga working in his field in Blantyre, Malawi. Photo: WFP/Badre Bahaji
Petros Malunga working in his field in Blantyre, Malawi. Photo: WFP/Badre Bahaji

 

The solution

R4 aims to support smallholder farmers in becoming more resilient to climate risks through a combination of four integrated objectives: 

  • reducing the impact of climate shocks through nature-based solutions and improved agricultural practices, productive asset creation and climate information services; 
  • transferring the risk of potentially catastrophic climate events to the private insurance market; 
  • enabling better risk absorption of households and communities through the promotion of group savings and integration with social protection systems;
  • promoting prudent risk-taking through financial education, livelihood diversification, and easier access to credit to enable better investments.

In 2022, R4 Rural Resilience continued expansion in collaboration with the WFP Innovation Accelerator, including the provision of microinsurance to smallholder cocoa farmers in West Africa. R4 Rural Resilience conducted feasibility studies to design and implement an integrated and sustainable microinsurance scheme in the new value chain. The first phase of the project is set to start in Côte d'Ivoire in cooperation with local private insurance companies and distributors, with plans to expand into additional West African countries.

A Cocoa farmer holds cocao beans in San-Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire. Photo:WFP/Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon
A Cocoa farmer holds cocao beans in San-Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire. Photo:WFP/Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon

 

Reached 400,000 vulnerable farming households in 2021/22 agricultural seasons
400,000
Reaching 400,000 vulnerable farming households
Impacting 2.8 million people
2,800,000
Impacting 2.8 million people
Implemented in 15 countries
15
Implemented in 15 countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
USD 4.7 million in payouts in total
USD 4.7M
USD 4.7 million in payouts distributed in 2021
The way forward

R4’s approach is now expanding to a new crop, Cocoa, in Cote d'Ivoire. The Cocoa micro-insurance project is increasing the diversification of micro-insurance using area Yield Index Insurance for the Cocoa value chain.

R4 is aiming to support approximately 1.4 million households (7.5 million beneficiaries) with integrated climate risk management in 25 countries by 2025, with the added benefit of expanding access to these insurance products to a broader market beyond the R4 participant farmers.

Last updated: 04/05/2023