Financial Innovation Way of Avoiding Risk of Climate Disasters in Food Production:Weather Index Insurance

Climate change will lead to a variety of climate disasters, and climate disasters have a greater impact on China＇s food production. Weather index insurance is a new financial way to avoid risk of climate disasters effectively in China＇s food production. Firstly, the relationship between weather index insurance and food production in China was elaborated, and then the development status, advantages and disadvantages of weather index insurance in China at present were analyzed. Finally, some countermeasures against the problems of weather index insurance in China were put forward.

Farmers' Risk Preferences and Agricultural Weather Index Insurance Uptake in Rural China

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of farmers' risk preferences on their decisions to purchase the agricultural weather index insurance based on the evidence from a household survey and field experiments conducted in Yongqiao District,Suzhou City of Anhui Province in China.Our empirical results show that farmers' risk aversion significantly increases the probability of their decision to buy weather index-based crop insurance.Other factors that significantly influence weather index insurance participation decisions include farmers' subjective beliefs on the probability of crop losses,farming experience,education level,farm size,and their household income.The empirical results of this study can provide helpful insights for policymakers and local insurers to further improve farmers' participation in weather indexbased crop insurance.

Farmers’Demand for Informal Risk Management Strategy and Weather Index Insurance:Evidence from China

In the absence of formal risk management strategies,agricultural production in China is highly vulnerable to climate change.In this study,field experiments were conducted with 344 households in Heilongjiang(Northeast China)and Jiangsu(East China)Provinces.Probit and logistic models and independent sample T-test were used to explore farmers’demand for weather index insurance,in contrast to informal risk management strategies,and the main factors that affect demand.The results show that the farmers prefer weather index insurance to informal risk management strategies,and farmers’characteristics have significant impacts on their adoption of risk management strategies.The variables non-agricultural labor ratio,farmers’risk perception,education,and agricultural insurance purchase experience significantly affect farmers’weather index insurance demand.The regression results show that the farmers’weather index insurance demand and the influencing factors in the two provinces are different.Farmers in Heilongjiang Province have a higher participation rate than those in Jiangsu Province.The government should conduct more weather index insurance pilot programs to help farmers understand the mechanism,and insurance companies should provide more types of weather index insurance to meet farmers’diversified needs.