Government Support to Agricultural Insurance : Challenges and Options for Developing Countries

Governments in developing countries have been increasingly involved in the support of commercial agricultural insurance programs in recent years. In their attempt to design and implement agricultural insurance, many governments in developing countries have sought technical assistance from the international community and particularly from the World Bank. World Bank is among the few international financial organizations having a fully dedicated insurance team with agricultural insurance experts, and the agricultural insurance team currently provides technical assistance in about 20 countries. One of the recurrent requests from the governments is about the international experience with agricultural insurance, not only in developed countries where in some cases agricultural insurance has been offered for more than a century, but also in middle- and low-income countries. They are particularly interested in the experience of public support to agricultural insurance, including technical, operational, financial and institutional aspects. The book aims to inform and update the public and private decision makers involved in the promotion of agricultural insurance about the recent developments in agricultural insurance, with a particular focus on middle- and low-income countries. It provides the decision maker with a framework for the development of agricultural insurance based on an analytical review of the rationale of public intervention in agricultural insurance and a detailed comparative analysis of agricultural insurance programs with and without public support. This analysis is based on a survey conducted by the World Bank's agricultural insurance team in 2008 in 65 developed and developing countries. It offers policymakers a review of public support in agricultural insurance in light of international experience and makes recommendations for the