Lasaco Assurance moves into farm insurance, two months after its ₦19.3bn capital raise

Lasaco Assurance has spent most of this year raising money. Now it is putting that money to work on one of the hardest books in Nigerian insurance: the farm.

The listed insurer has received approval from the National Insurance Commission to underwrite agricultural insurance. Managing director Ademoye Shobo said the company will offer a full range of products for farmers and other players in the sector, and expects the new business to contribute significantly to revenue growth.

What it plans to sell

The menu is broad. Lasaco lists multi-peril crop cover, plantation, poultry farm, fishery, livestock, farm property and produce, and cattle insurance. That is seven lines aimed at very different customers, from smallholders worried about one bad season to commercial poultry operators with a lot of capital sitting in a single shed.

Head of strategy Adedayo Adetokun framed the move as part of a long-term plan to diversify the company's sector focus. In plain terms, Lasaco wants premium income that does not depend on the same motor, fire and corporate risks every other non-life insurer in Lagos is chasing.

Why the timing fits

The approval lands roughly two months after Lasaco raised ₦19.3bn to clear the new capital threshold, about 4.5% more than its ₦18.47bn target and among the largest raises by a Nigerian insurer in the recapitalisation round. The company said at the time that part of the money would fund new insurance products and a thicker solvency buffer. Agricultural cover needs both, because a single drought, flood or disease outbreak can produce a wave of claims at once.

The opportunity is obvious in a country where farming employs a large share of the workforce. The difficulty is just as familiar. Farmers are scattered, often unbanked, and sceptical that claims will be paid, while insurers struggle to price risk without good yield and weather data. Lasaco has not given premium targets, rollout dates or distribution plans, so for now this is a licence and a product list rather than a revenue line.

Lasaco has the capital and the permission to build a farm book that few rivals have cracked; whether it can find a cheap way to reach farmers and pay their claims quickly will decide if this becomes real premium growth or a footnote in next year's accounts.