Demand for Complementary Financial and Technological Tools for Managing Drought Risk: Evidence from Rice Farmers in Bangladesh

Financial and technological innovations that mitigate weather-related production risks have the potential to greatly benefit farmers in many risk-prone. In this study we examine farmers’ preferences for two distinct tools that allow them to manage drought risk: weather index insurance and a recently...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ward, Patrick S., Spielman, David J., Ortega, David L., Kumar, Neha, Minocha, Sumedha
Formato: Conference Paper
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151319
Descripción
Sumario:Financial and technological innovations that mitigate weather-related production risks have the potential to greatly benefit farmers in many risk-prone. In this study we examine farmers’ preferences for two distinct tools that allow them to manage drought risk: weather index insurance and a recently released drought-tolerant rice variety. We illustrate how these tools can independently address drought risk and demonstrate the additional benefits gained by combining them into a complementary risk management product. Findings indicate that farmers are generally unwilling to adopt the drought-tolerant variety independent of insurance, largely due to a yield penalty under non-drought conditions. When bundled with insurance, however, farmers’ valuation of the variety increases. Farmers value insurance on its own, but even more so when bundled with the drought-tolerant variety. The results provide evidence that farmers value the complementarities inherent in a well-calibrated bundle of risk management tools. Ward, Patrick S.; Spielman, David J.; Ortega, David L.; Kumar, Neha; Minocha, Sumedha