From a post on the New York Times‘ Opinionator blog:
“The insecurity of farming sabotages yields even when the weather is good. Because of the risk, many farmers are unwilling to bet all their money on a crop, so they sow only a portion of their land. Or they use poor quality seeds because they do not want to increase their risks by spending more. Risk makes it very difficult for farmers to get credit to buy needed seeds, fertilizer, herbicides or insecticides, so their yields are stunted. These are people who can ill afford to get less than the maximum from their plots.
Weather insurance for small farmers has always faced numerous barriers. But throughout east Africa today there are projects finding creative and innovative ways to overcome them.”
This is quite à propos, as I am going to Washington, DC this weekend for the Index Insurance Innovation Initiative (I4) technical workshop, which will convene the I4 grant recipients to discuss the technical details of index insurance implementation and evaluation.
(HT: Chris Paul.)