Mekong Institute (MI), in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA), successfully concluded the Training-Workshop on Agricultural Insurance as a Risk Mitigation Tool for Smallholder Farmers, held from July 21 to 23, 2025, at the MI Training Center in Khon Kaen, Thailand.
A total of 28 participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam completed the three-day course focused on designing and operationalizing agricultural insurance as a key component of broader agricultural risk management strategies.
“Countries in Southeast Asia are at different stages of developing their agricultural insurance systems, but all recognize that it is a critical piece of risk mitigation, especially for smallholder farmers,” said Mr. Suriyan Vichitlekarn, Executive Director of MI, in his opening remarks. “It is therefore important to create a platform for knowledge exchange so we can learn from each other, and this training-workshop is an opportune time for that.”
The training combined expert-led lectures, case presentations, and interactive group exercises to build participants’ understanding of agricultural risk typologies, product development processes, enabling policy frameworks, and implementation models.
“While we know that agricultural insurance acts as a safety net for smallholder farmers, many are still not covered due to limited accessibility and lack of demand,” said Dr. Prasun Kumar Das, Secretary General of APRACA. “This workshop was designed to enhance the capacities of both financial institutions and government agencies to develop or scale up inclusive agricultural insurance programs in their countries.”
A highlight of the program was the policy and regulatory mapping workshop, where country teams identified the institutional gaps, policy constraints, and opportunities for strengthening agricultural insurance systems in their national contexts. The program also emphasized the integration of insurance with credit, extension, and digital services to enhance uptake and impact.
“This training is not the end but a beginning,” emphasized Ms. Jutamas Thongcharoen, Program Manager and Team Leader of MI’s Agricultural Development and Commercialization Department, during her closing remarks. “We encourage participants to continue collaborating and innovating to develop inclusive and climate-resilient insurance solutions for smallholder farmers.”
This training-workshop is part of MI and APRACA’s broader collaboration to build capacity in the Asia-Pacific region for inclusive value chain financing and risk mitigation, particularly for vulnerable farming communities in the face of increasing climate and market shocks.
