Determinants of Farming Insurance Coverage as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

• Published in: The international journal of climate change. Impacts and responses 2024-01, Vol.17 (1), p.25
• Main Authors: Phathutshedzo Fancy Tshilowa, Antwi, Michael Akwasi, Chagwiza, Clarietta, Oduniyi, Oluwaseun S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Climate adaptation; Climate change; Corn; Cyclones; Disaster management; Disaster relief; Drought; Environmental risk; Farm income; Farmers; Farming; Farms; Floods; Heat waves; Insurance coverage; Occupations; Positivism; Random sampling; Willingness
• ISSN: 1835-7156
• DOI: 10.18848/1835-7156/CGP/v17i01/25-39

Agriculturalists tend to run away from farming due to the climate-related risks that agriculture is associated with (e.g., floods, drought, heatwaves, and cyclones). This study aims to analyze the use of and the willingness to adopt farming insurance as a protection against climate-related risks and its determinants among emerging maize farmers. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select and interview 288 participants from the five districts that constitute the study area. The study adopted the philosophy of positivism, deductive approach, and quantitative methodological choices. The majority (65%) of participants were willing to purchase and use farming insurance, while 3 percent already had farming insurance and could afford the premium and 1 percent had already claimed from their insurance providers. The majority (54%) of farmers could not afford farm insurance because of little farm income, while 18 percent had never heard about farming insurance, 5 percent did not have enough information about it, and 3 percent were in the process of applying for farming insurance. The binary logistic model was used to analyze factors associated with the farmers’ willingness to use farming insurance for climate-related risk. The significant variables from the results of the binary logistic model were age, other occupation, perceived insurance as a disaster relief tool, and never heard of farming insurance. The results indicate that the higher number of farmers with no knowledge of farming insurance leads to a lower number of farmers willing to use farming insurance. This study recommends that the government promote farming insurance among the emerging farmers and farmers engaged in other occupations and, subsequently, intervene with a subsidized farming insurance option to support farmers. It is further recommended that agricultural insurance providers publicize their services and provide well-understood information to the farmers.