He buys his agricultural inputs at Maraba Investments in Eldoret. About two hundred farmers signed up for the insurance within the first two weeks that it was being offered there. Beatrice Kemboi is a director of the business.

BEATRICE KEMBOI: "When a farmer elects to join the insurance, we sell the product on wholesale so that the premium is reduced, so that he doesn'tt feel it, so that it cushions him and I've also sold the product."

Beatrice Kemboi says every day she and her workers register from five to ten farmers in the program. When farmers buy their inputs, the store worker uses a mobile phone camera to scan barcode symbols that match the product. A text message confirming the policy number and sale is then sent automatically.

The program also uses solar-powered weather stations to record local rainfall amounts. The data is sent to the UAP Insurance Company. When there is crop failure because of a drought or flood, farmers receive a text message. It tells them to receive payment from the business where they purchased their inputs.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, with reporting by Cathy Majtenyi in Eldoret, Kenya. You can read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I'm Jim Tedder.