Preferences for index-based crop insurance in South Africa

TL;DR

This study explores how involving farmers in South Africa can improve their willingness to pay for index-based crop insurance.

Contribution

The paper introduces a participatory methodology to assess farmers' preferences for index-based crop insurance in South Africa.

Findings

62% of the sampled farmers were aged 52 or older, with 87% being male.

Four variables significantly influenced willingness to pay for crop insurance: logAge square, gender, marital status, and age.

Farmers who had not experienced natural hazard losses were more willing to pay for insurance.

Abstract

The main reason cited for the low participation rate in indexed insurance in Africa is the lack of farmers’ involvement in the initial conception. The main aim of this article was, therefore, to design an improved participatory methodology that would help farmers in South Africa gather information on the value they place in new crop insurance initiatives based on weather indices. The main objective of this study was to determine their willingness to pay (WTP) crop insurance in the Eastern Cape. The study adopted a cross-sectional design, and the respondents were selected by using a probability sampling procedure. A sample of 150 respondents was selected. The results from descriptive statistics showed that 62% of the smallholder irrigation scheme farmers were between 52 and above years of age, male and female: 87% and 13%, respectively. The results from the probit model revealed that out of nine variables included in the model, only four namely, logAge square, gender, marital status and age were significantly influencing the WTP index-based crop insurance at 1%, 5% and 10%, respectively. However, age was found to reduce the chances of participating in crop-based insurance. A large proportion of those who were willing to pay insurance had not previously experienced losses because of natural hazards. Therefore, it recommended that the government should use existing extension officers to educate the farmers and promote the importance and benefits of insurance products.

The results are expected to contribute to the local government to improve disaster resilience through strengthening regional financial funding.

Figures