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Subject: Agricultural Economics × Author: Majumder, Saddam Hossen × End date: 2021 × Start date: 2021 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    CROP INSURANCE IN ODISHA: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT
    (AAU, Jorhat, 2021) Majumder, Saddam Hossen; Deka, Nivedita
    The present study identified and quantified the various risks, performance of crop insurance schemes in Odisha and assessed the impact of its adoption along with the prioritization of risk mitigation strategies adopted by the rice growers. The study used primary as well as secondary data and primary data was collected from 240 farmers comprising both insured and non-insured farmers selected from two districts, namely Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara from East and South eastern coastal plains zones of Odisha, where rice cultivation and climatic related hazards, both are widespread. Few officials and field functionaries of implementing agencies were also selected and interviewed. The study revealed that farmers in Odisha state and the study area as well are much vulnerable to adverse climatic environments, especially floods, drought, severe cyclones and infestation of pest and diseases. Farmers do have their own risk coping strategies like sale of farm produce/ livestock and non-farm activities (daily wage labour) apart from adoption of crop insurance. Crop diversification as a tool of risk reduction also examined through various indices and it was found that insured farmers were in better position to diversify their crops than the non-insured farmers. Growth analysis of earlier introduced insurance schemes showed that farmers and area coverage, farmers covered and benefitted, premium paid and claims settled, etc. decreased except National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) in which growth of above indicators were positive during kharif seasons for loanee farmers. The present scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) introduced during 2016, replacing earlier schemes were also examined and found loanee and non-loanee farmers‟ coverage got increased during kharif season, but percentage coverage of loanee farmers was much higher than non-loanee farmers. Post revamp of PMFBY scheme witnessed increase in the number of non-loanee farmers during rabi 2020-21. However, compensations against crop damages were much lower than the average value of threshold yield. The results also depicted that the farmers were reluctant to invest more due to frequently occurrence of adverse climatic risks but they spend more in material costs in rice production anticipating high yield and compensation in case of any catastrophes, and the fact was reinforced by significant regression coefficient of insurance adoption on materials costs. To estimate the true impact of crop insurance, the difference in difference (DiD) method was employed and found a negligible difference between increment in costs, returns and investment on agriculture between insured and non-insured farmers. Estimates of logit regression models showed that farm size, farmer‟s contact with extension agencies, access to credit, information access from media and influence of fellow farmers‟ were the key drivers of awareness creation and adoption of crop insurance. Estimates of tobit regression model indicated that gross cropped area, credit availed, affordability of farmers to premium rate and diversification status of farm, etc. were the key factors influencing the premium paid by the insured farmers. Delay in conducting crop cutting experiments (CCE), damage assessment and settlement of claims were the main hindrances for adoption of crop insurance as identified and ranked using Garrett ranking technique. Creation of awareness about benefits of crop insurance and considering the individual farm as a unit of assessment instead of gram panchayat were the key suggestion for better coverage of the scheme. It is concluded that a demand driven approach comprising of location specific crops and coverage, targeting young and educated farmer and easy access to information flow through better extension services will facilitate more adoption and improve the farmer‟s stands in protecting their crops from various adversities.