The company now hopes to scale up such “index-based” insurance to other parts of the country, and develop other micro-insurance products that rely on satellite technology, Temsgen said. Ethiopian engineers are expected to launch their country’s satellite from China, with China providing $6 million in training and financial support for the launch, said Tessema, of Ethiopia’s space institute. However, the Ethiopian government seeks to modernize its agriculture sector, with satellite data playing an important role in the country’s modernization drive,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Tessema, however, says richer countries from the United States to China - as well as some of its African neighbors - have used satellite technology to develop their economies. “Many governments view (satellite technology) as crucial to their economic development,” he said, arguing that Ethiopia is too late, rather than too early, to the game.

Source: Ethiopian News December 05, 2018 12:00 UTC