In May 2019 a Thomson Reuters Foundation feature from Arba Minch followed farmer Manza Bulacho and others who turned to insured cows after drought destroyed crops in southern Ethiopia.
The story explained index or livestock insurance products marketed as a buffer when rains fail, and it showed both hope and skepticism among farmers who had to understand premiums, payouts, and delays.
Climate risk tools were already a donor favorite; the test was whether payouts arrived fast enough to stop distress sales of animals.
Kept as climate and agriculture archive, the insured-cows feature dates an early private-risk experiment beside traditional safety-net wheat distributions.
Sources: Reuters / Thomson Reuters Foundation (draft syndication)