Assessment of Rice Farmers’ Participation in the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) Scheme in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Farmers participate in insurance schemes as a result of high risks associated with agriculture and the occurrence of natural disasters like  fire, pest and diseases, drought and floods that can lead to low farm yields and consequently lower incomes. The major objective of the  study was to assess rice farmers’ participation in the Nigerian agricultural insurance scheme in Bende Local Government Area of Abia  State. Specifically, the study investigated the farmers’ socio-economic characteristics and their awareness of the Nigerian agricultural  insurance scheme. A multistage sampling procedure was used to survey a total of one hundred rice farmers. Descriptive statistics and  logistic regression model were employed in data analysis. Results showed the mean age of the farmers was 41 years. About 75% of them  were males and 25% females while 54% of the farmers had tertiary education. The logit regression showed that having access to loans  significantly increased the likelihood of rice farmers’ participation in the insurance scheme. It was also learnt that the major challenges  encountered by the rice farmers were lack of finance and inability to understand the working technicalities of insurance policy scheme, as  well as limited information about the NAIC scheme. It is recommended that government should enhance farmers’ access to loans  through policies that encourage the financial institutions to readily lend to smallholder farmers and to encourage their participation in  the agricultural insurance scheme through public awareness campaign as it would help in the sustenance of farmers’ production.