Exploring Sustainability Features and Determinants of Agricultural Insurance Programmes in Low-income Countries

Abstract

Agriculture is the main occupation and source of livelihood for the majority of the inhabitants in
low-income countries. However, agricultural activities in these countries are confronted with a
plethora of challenges, including production and marketing risks. Some of the farmers in lowincome countries have been employing autonomous and planned adaptation strategies, including
agricultural insurance contracts to cope with the agricultural risks. Agricultural insurance has
been acclaimed to possess enormous potential for managing agricultural risks in low-income
countries. This study employed the literature review approach to identify the features and
determinants of sustainable agricultural insurance programmes in low-income countries. The
study found that the appropriate institutional arrangements, socio-economic and ecological
pillars could interact to make agricultural insurance programmes in low-income countries
sustainable. Since most low-income countries are still piloting and up scaling their agricultural
insurance programmes, I recommend incorporating the institutional, socio-economic and
ecological dimensions into the design and implementation of their agricultural insurance schemes.