Apply the Index Insurance Method for Vietnam Agricultural Insurance

Abstract

Agriculture plays an important role in the economy of developing countries. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, then the farmers face with many risks in production process. Shocks from natural disasters also contribute to a cycle of poverty. In order to help small farmers overcome risks and difficulties in production then agricultural insurance is needed. But due to (1) high transactions cost for selling insurance policies and adjusting losses; (2) moral hazard; (3) adverse selection; and (4) correlated loss risk then the insurance and reinsurance companies were not willing to offer the commercial products for agricultural insurance. The new approach (weather based index insurance) opens a new window for agricultural insurance. This approach has more advantages than the traditional approach. Many countries have successful applied this new approach for solving agricultural insurance in their countries. Vietnam could apply index insurance for early flooding insurance in Mekong River Delta for summer-autumn rice season