Weather Indices for Designing Micro-Insurance Products for Small-Holder Farmers in the Tropics

Abstract

Agriculture is inherently risky. Drought is a particularly troublesome hazard that has a documented adverse impact on agricultural development. A long history of decision-support tools have been developed to try and help farmers or policy makers manage risk. We offer site-specific drought insurance methodology as a significant addition to this process. Drought insurance works by encapsulating the best available scientific estimate of drought probability and severity at a site within a single number- the insurance premium, which is offered by insurers to insurable parties in a transparent risk-sharing agreement. The proposed method is demonstrated in a case study for dry beans in Nicaragua.

Citation

Diaz Nieto, J.; Fisher, M.; Cook, S.; Läderach, P.; Lundy, M. Weather Indices for Designing Micro-Insurance Products for Small-Holder Farmers in the Tropics. PLoS ONE (2012) 7 (6) e38281. [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038281]

Weather Indices for Designing Micro-Insurance Products for Small-Holder Farmers in the Tropics

Published 1 January 2012