Sompo Insurance has announced that it will offer a new product to compensate drought hit farmers in Indonesia.

The new coverage, set to be launched as early as this autumn, follows a memorandum the insurer signed earlier this month to partner with Indonesia’s meteorological bureau, BMKG, Nikkei reports.

Sompo will provide weather index products with parametric features that will pay farmers when rainfall dips below the forecast amount of the last three months.

Premiums will start at 50,000 rupiah (US$3.76) with farmers who hold the policy able to claim up to 500,000 rupiah (US$37.60) if drought occurs.

Sompo is searching for insurance agencies in the country to partner with on the product with a pilot program set to launch in autumn before a full roll-out in 2018.

The Japanese firm is seeking to boost its number of contracts fivefold to 30,000 in Southeast Asia by 2025.

Sompo has experience with similar products in other markets.

The firm offers a similar weather index product to banana producers in Thailand and the Philippines with policies set for release in Myanmar awaiting regulatory approval.


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