Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India

Researchers and policymakers have long understood the benefits of crop insurance, but have been consistently disappointed by the poor performance of these programs. Rarely have programs seen sizeable take-up rates without support through large government subsidies, and in many countries demand has b...

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Main Authors: Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar, Gupta, Shweta, Singh, Vartika, Ward, Patrick S.
Format: Conference Paper
Language:Inglés
Published: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145512
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author Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar
Gupta, Shweta
Singh, Vartika
Ward, Patrick S.
author_browse Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar
Gupta, Shweta
Singh, Vartika
Ward, Patrick S.
author_facet Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar
Gupta, Shweta
Singh, Vartika
Ward, Patrick S.
author_sort Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Researchers and policymakers have long understood the benefits of crop insurance, but have been consistently disappointed by the poor performance of these programs. Rarely have programs seen sizeable take-up rates without support through large government subsidies, and in many countries demand has been meager even at prices well below fair-market rates. Experiences from India have largely followed this trend, despite a number of large policy initiatives. Limited demand stems from low perceived value, arguably because the existing insurance products are unsuited to farmers’ needs. The present study fills an important gap by demonstrating that incorporating product characteristics better suited to farmers’ preferences can lead to higher take-up. To do so, we conducted a discrete choice experiment with agricultural households in four states in India. While farmers seem to like several of the features of policies offered under existing programs, our results suggest they would generally be willing to pay more as premium than the current highlysubsidized rates, in return for more assured and timely payouts.
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spelling CGSpace1455122024-11-13T12:23:08Z Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar Gupta, Shweta Singh, Vartika Ward, Patrick S. willingness to pay demand economic policies crop insurance subsidies experimental design Researchers and policymakers have long understood the benefits of crop insurance, but have been consistently disappointed by the poor performance of these programs. Rarely have programs seen sizeable take-up rates without support through large government subsidies, and in many countries demand has been meager even at prices well below fair-market rates. Experiences from India have largely followed this trend, despite a number of large policy initiatives. Limited demand stems from low perceived value, arguably because the existing insurance products are unsuited to farmers’ needs. The present study fills an important gap by demonstrating that incorporating product characteristics better suited to farmers’ preferences can lead to higher take-up. To do so, we conducted a discrete choice experiment with agricultural households in four states in India. While farmers seem to like several of the features of policies offered under existing programs, our results suggest they would generally be willing to pay more as premium than the current highlysubsidized rates, in return for more assured and timely payouts. 2019-10-21 2024-06-21T09:04:36Z 2024-06-21T09:04:36Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145512 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134336 Open Access Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar; Gupta, Shweta; Singh, Vartika; and Ward, Patrick S. 2019. Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India. Presented at the AAEA Annual Meeting in Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, United States, July 21-23, 2019. https://purl.umn.edu/291023
spellingShingle willingness to pay
demand
economic policies
crop insurance
subsidies
experimental design
Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar
Gupta, Shweta
Singh, Vartika
Ward, Patrick S.
Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India
title Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India
title_full Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India
title_fullStr Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India
title_full_unstemmed Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India
title_short Optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers: Evidence from India
title_sort optimizing agricultural insurance to meet the demands of farmers evidence from india
topic willingness to pay
demand
economic policies
crop insurance
subsidies
experimental design
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145512
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