On insuring crop risks

It is critical to work closely with the community in order to understand the risks being faced by them. DHAN has formed farmers’ groups and mutual insurance committees that provide regular feedback to the field officers on which crops to insure and the risks and losses associated with them. The close collaboration with the community enabled DHAN to gain a clear understanding of the cropping patterns and the rainfall requirements and therefore to design a better product.

The rainfall requirement for the deficit rainfall trigger, the required distribution of rainfall for the area/ soil type for the dry spell trigger, and the crop stages when rains would be detrimental are decided along with communities, making the product specific to their needs. Such specific and complex insurance would not be possible without the insured farmers’ involvement.

The product features need to be explained and understood in local terms. When explaining the insurance product, DHAN learnt that farmers had problems understanding the rainfall measurement being used in the product. To counter this issue, DHAN believes that an additional session on measures on crop risks and measurements would have been useful.

Date of last Learning Journey update: April 2013