• The Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition, a blockchain-based parametric crop protection program for smallholder farmers, has completed its initial launch in Kenya.
• Nearly 7,000 farmers signed up for the program to protect their crops from weather events during the most recent short rains season.
• Smart contracts enabled fast cash transfers without the need for filing claims or human adjusters, providing immediate financial relief to those affected by climate disasters.
Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition Launches in Kenya
The Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition has launched its non-profit, instantaneous crop protection program to smallholder farmers in Kenya at the commencement of the planting season. Led by the Lemonade Foundation and alongside additional founding partners Avalanche, Chainlink, DAOstack, Etherisc, Hannover Re and Pula nearly 7,000 farmers signed up to protect their crops during the most recent short rains season from October 2022 to January 2023.
Smart Contracts Trigger Instant Payouts
Smart contracts triggered instant payouts directly to mobile wallets of smallholder farmers impacted by severe weather conditions. This eliminates the need for filing claims or for human adjusters thereby lowering costs and avoiding a months-long timeline associated with traditional claim processes. Most of these included green grams and sorghum—principal staple foods grown throughout the region with green grams representing a main food source for a majority of the population.
Eliminating Costly Claims Processes
The use of smart contracts enabled fast cash transfers without the need for filing claims or human adjusters while reducing costs substantially compared with traditional methods. At the end of this season cash transfers were automatically triggered based on area yield data and sent directly to farmers providing immediate financial relief when they needed it most.
Encouraging Impact of Decentralized Technologies
Shai Wininger Director at The Lemonade Foundation commented that “Working alongside our partners and seeing the very real impact decentralized technologies can have on smallholder farmers in Kenya is incredibly encouraging” . He further added that “We’ve built highly-accurate data models that trigger autonomous smart contracts not only bringing down cost but also providing best experience our customers”.
Scaling Up To Give More Farmers Access
The Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition looks forward to expanding its initial stage beyond this and scaling up even further in order to give more farmers access to critical financial protection when they need it most