Farmer Sun Sros from Chrey Cherng village in Battambang province is a policyholder in the Weather Index Crop Insurance scheme. Supplied
When the rains came hard and fast in monsoon, Sun Sros would lie awake at night, worrying. A 42-year-old rice farmer from Chrey Cherng village in Battambang province, heavy rains are a problem; and no rains at all a bigger problem. In 2022, during a bitter drought, she lost nearly a third of her crop. With no buffer, no support and no choice, she sold cows, fruit and whatever rice she could salvage just to repay her loans.
“No one could help me,” she recalled. “I had to borrow again, just to start again.”
And for many farmers in Cambodia, such borrowings from pawn lenders could mean a lifetime of debt. Where to service the repayments for one loan, they could take another; and another and another. A 2024 study by the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) and M-CRIL, of 3,262 households, found nearly 87 per cent of borrowers have one to two loans. Now, at the far end of the study, 2.1 per cent of those surveyed had taken as high as four or more loans.
This was Sros’s life till she signed up for Cambodia’s Weather-Indexed Crop Insurance (WICI), a programme that’s quietly transforming rural life.
Today, Sros grows rice on five hectares — four of which she owns — and she speaks with relief about the support she now receives.
“I got $142 in payouts over the last two years,” she said.
Heang Koem, from Doun Nhaem village, Battambang province, is also a policyholder. Supplied
“It helped us buy seed, fertiliser, even a small machine for farming. My youngest daughter is still in school. And it’s a huge relief that her education didn’t have to suffer in anyway because of my finances,” she added.
Children of farmers having to stop their education and start working is one of the common fallouts when parents go into debt, as per the study by CMA and M-CRIL. The study said financial loss often forces Cambodian families into harsh trade-offs — borrowing from relatives, turning to high-interest moneylenders, cutting back on nutritious food and selling vital assets like motorbikes, which are essential for work, education and farming.
That’s why Sros’s quiet relief about her daughter staying in school carries weight. Her sense of stability is shared by more than 76,000 farmers now covered under the WICI scheme — a safety net that’s grown rapidly in scale and trust. In 2023, the programme reached 54,800 farmers. Just a year later, coverage has expanded by over 40 per cent, protecting 77,000 hectares of rice fields across 600 villages in Battambang, Kampong Thom and Prey Veng provinces.
The scheme was jointly developed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the Rice Sector Development Program (SDP). It began as a pilot in 2015, designed by Forte Insurance, one of the country’s oldest insurers. For several years, Forte and the government operated the project as a public-private partnership. But since 2025, Forte has taken full ownership of the initiative, expanding it with private capital while maintaining the mission to shield Cambodia’s smallholder farmers from climate shocks.
And those shocks are worsening. With erratic monsoons and extended dry spells — exacerbated by El Niño — farmers often gamble everything on a season’s yield. Cambodia’s economy remains deeply agrarian: 44 per cent of adults are farmers, and 80 per cent of them grow rice. Of the nation’s total arable land, 82 per cent is cultivated during the wet season for rice alone.
An awareness programme held for farmers in Treal village, Kampong Thom province to educate them about insurance. Supplied
“This program is a way to protect the most vulnerable,” said Ny Lyhoung, CEO of Forte’s Micro and Agriculture Insurance division.
“The annual flooding of the Mekong needs a buffer; and farmers can cultivate with some assurance and peace of mind,” he added.
The insurance pays out up to $100 per hectare, with premiums set at $10. Claims are triggered automatically using a hybrid system of 23 ground weather stations and satellite data sourced from CHIRPS, which monitors rainfall patterns. CHIRPS — the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data – was developed by scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. CHIRPS blends satellite imagery with in-situ station data to provide high-resolution, long-term rainfall data. This enables insurers to accurately detect droughts or excessive rainfall in real time and trigger payouts without the need for individual loss assessments.
When thresholds are breached — whether from drought or excess rain — Forte sends automatic payouts to farmers via bank transfers or mobile wallets. No paperwork. No waiting in line.
“We don’t make them come to us,” said Lyhoung. “We send an SMS to the village heads and to every farmer enrolled.”
The technology backbone is matched by community outreach. Between 2021 and 2023, over 18,000 farmers were trained on how the index-based system works. Nearly 8,000 of them were women.
One of them is 59-year-old Heang Koem from Doun Nhaem village in Battambang. A widow and mother of seven, she farms four hectares of rice and relies entirely on her harvest for survival. Before WICI, a bad season meant pawning livestock or borrowing from neighbours. In 2024, when floods ruined her crop, she received a payout.
“I could buy seed, food, and replant. It meant I didn’t need another loan,” she said.
That ability to bounce back without falling into debt is precisely what the program aims to deliver. “This scheme promotes climate-resilient agriculture,” said a finance ministry official earlier. “It aligns with our goals for economic inclusion, land-use planning, and rural development.”
The coverage is still concentrated in three provinces — Battambang, Kampong Thom and Prey Veng — but there are plans to expand nationally. Already, Forte is exploring expansion into neighbouring Laos, leveraging its technical expertise and the model’s early success.
Challenges remain. Some farmers distrust the technology, unsure how satellite data reflects their specific losses. Commune elections and party politics during enrolment season can also complicate outreach.
“But many are now seeing neighbours get payouts, and that builds trust,” said Lyhoung.
In Kampong Thom province’s Thmei village, 68-year-old Chheam Yoeung has watched the difference first-hand.
“Before insurance, I had to sell cows when floods came,” he said.
“Once I even borrowed from relatives just to buy seed,” he continued.
Yoeung grows rice on three hectares of family land and supplements with rented cashew and cassava plots. Since joining WICI in 2021, he has received payouts in multiple years — each time buying fertiliser, covering daily expenses and even purchasing insurance for the next season.
“My crops depend on the rain,” he said.
“But if the rain betrays me, at least I’m not alone,” he added.
As Cambodia faces a future of increasingly erratic weather, schemes like this are quietly reshaping how rural families manage risk — offering not a guarantee, but a measure of resilience.
Rachel David is a Cambodia-based freelance journalist with a particular interest in the finance and insurance industries. The views and opinions expressed are her own.
