Abstract
Weather extremes pose substantial threats to food security in areas where the main source of livelihood is rain-fed crop production. In most of these areas, agricultural index insurance (AII) is recognized as being capable of securitizing food production by providing safety nets against weather-induced crop losses. Unfortunately, however, AII does not indemnify farmers for non-weather-related crop losses. This study investigates how this gap can be filled by exploring strategies through which AII can be linked with non-weather factors that influence crop production. We do this by using an improvised variable ranking methodology to identify these factors in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality, South Africa. Results show that key agrometeorological variables comprising surface moisture content, growing degree-days, and precipitation influence maize yield even under optimal weather conditions, while seed variety, fertilizer application rate, soil pH, and ownership of machinery play an equally important role. This finding is important because it demonstrates that although AII focuses more on weather elements, there are non-weather variables that may expose farmers to production risk even under optimal weather conditions. As such, linking AII with critical non-weather, yield-determining factors can be a better risk management strategy.
Highlights
Smallholder farming around the world contributes substantially to economic growth and food security, especially in rural areas [1,2]
This study aims to investigate maize yielddetermining factors that can be linked with agricultural index insurance (AII) to reduce production risk and improve productivity in the O.R Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM), South Africa
The results are presented in the form of descriptive statistics of factors that influence maize yield (Section 3.1) and rankings of these factors (Section 3.2)
Summary
Smallholder farming around the world contributes substantially to economic growth and food security, especially in rural areas [1,2]. The increasing occurrence of weather shocks threatens agriculture, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where 95%. In the past 10 to 15 years, attempts were made to support farmers through agricultural index insurance (AII), which acts as a safety net against the adverse effects of weather-induced crop failures [6,7,8]. Recent studies show that insurance encourages farmers to take risks and make more investments in productive inputs. In Bangladesh, for example, purchasing insurance led to the expansion of agricultural land and more investment in fertilizer, labor, irrigation, and pesticides [9]. In Kenya, an uptake of insurance was significantly associated with the increased use of fertilizer and expenditures on seeds by 50% and 65%, respectively, and a corresponding increase in maize yields by 60% [10]
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