Eyes on Earth Episode 37 – Insuring West Africa’s Crops

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Summary: The Green Revolution leaned on fertilizers, drought-resistant seeds and other modern innovations to boost agricultural production across much of the planet in the second half of the 20^th Century. But many of those innovations never reached West Africa, partially because the lack of social safety nets and crop insurance made such investments too risky. On this episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear about a new product called index insurance that could help encourage yield-boosting investments by small holder farmers in West Africa, and how EROS data might be used to refine and improve the product.

Guest: Chris Funk, USGS EROS, Sari Lucille Blakeley and Greg Husak, University of California-Santa Barbara

Host: John Hult

Producer: John Hult

Release date: November 2, 2020

More on the FEWS NET/Index Insurance: 

• Satellite Data Show Promise as Guide for West African Crop Insurance
• Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)
• USGS Early Warning
• International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)

• EROS in Action – Landsat Data Offers Relief to West African Farmers