Household margin insurance of agricultural sector in Indonesia using a farmer exchange rate index

PurposeFarmer exchange rate (FER) is the ratio between a farmer's income and expenditure and is also an indicator of farmers’ welfare. There is little research regarding its use in risk modeling in crop insurance. This study seeks to propose a design for a household margin insurance scheme of the agricultural sector based on FER.Design/methodology/approachThis research employs various risk modeling concepts, i.e. value at risk, loss models and premium calculation, to construct the proposed model. The standard linear, static and time-varying copula models are used to identify the dependency between variables involved in calculating FER.FindingsFirst, FER can be considered as the primary variable for risk modeling in agricultural household margin insurance because it demonstrates farmers’ financial ability. Second, temporal dependence estimated using the time-varying copula can minimize errors, reduce the premium rate and result in a tighter guarantee's level of security.Originality/valueThis research extends the previous similar studies related to the use of index ratio in margin insurance loss modeling. Its authenticity is in the use of FER, which represents the farmers' trading capability. FER determines farmers’ losses by considering two aspects: the farmers’ income rate and their ability to fulfill their life and farming needs. Also, originality exists in the use of the time-varying copulas in identifying the dependence of the indices involved in calculating FER.

A generalized Livestock Gross Margin insurance program for the developing countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a new margin protection (MP) scheme for the producers of hog, cattle and dairy in the developing countries. Design/methodology/approach The proposed MP scheme is inspired by the Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) program that has been successfully implemented in US directly implementing the LGM program in developing countries can be difficult due to the rudimentary of the futures market with limited futures listing. To address this issue, the authors proxy the futures prices by relating to some relevant spot prices via an econometric model. The proxied futures prices, in turn, enable the implementation of a generalized LGM, which the authors denote as the MP scheme. Findings As China is the world’s largest consumption and production of pork, the authors describe the proposed MP scheme by demonstrating how a generalized LGM can be constructed for the Chinese hog producers. By empirically comparing to the pilot hog price index insurance for the Beijing’s hog producers, the authors find that the proposed MP scheme is more effective in providing MP for the producers. Research limitations/implications The proposed MP scheme still requires the availability of some relevant spot prices in order to use an econometric model to proxy the missing futures prices. Originality/value The value of this research stems from demonstrating how an MP scheme can be constructed for developing countries that have rudimentary futures markets.

Insurance Products in Rastin Profit and Loss Sharing Banking

Purpose: This paper aims to explain new insurance products and policies in Rastin Profit and Loss Sharing (PLS) Banking. Rastin Banking is a full Islamic Banking System with all necessary parts for banking operations that can be installed in conventional and Islamic banks both. In this paper, we are going to explain the milestones of new insurance products and policies. Design: Rastin Banking complies with the nature of the intermediary financial activity and has a new type of banking operations. The systems and instruments of this type of banking have different risk treatments, and new insurance policy and measures should be defined to cover the risks of the operations In order to fulfill this goal, appropriate insurance policies are described. Findings: Some new insurance products are defined such as Certificate Insurance, Insurance of Market Value of Certificate, Responsibility/Engineering Insurance, Insurance of Accidents Concerning the Article of Sharing, Collateral Insurance, Loss Margin Insurance, Profit Margin Insurance, Merchandise Transportation Insurance, Production Equipment and Installations Insurance, Product Quality Insurance, Insurance of Commodity under Production, Inventory Insurance, Production Limited Loss Insurance, Transaction Limited Loss Insurance to handle Rastin Banking. Research limitations: Many of these insurance policies are new and require more elaborations for further practical development and adjustment. Practical implications: These insurance products can be used both in Rastin Banking operations as well as conventional business and finance arrangements. These insurance policies have no conflict with indisputable legal principles, and insurance companies can supply these insurance products based on their own actuary calculations. Social implications: The introduced insurance policies actually change profit and loss sharing activity to just profit sharing. Originality/value: Approach of this system and the designed insurance policies is entirely different and new.

Addressing basis risk in agricultural margin insurances

Purpose After several reforms of the common agricultural policy, domestic product prices and farm incomes have become more volatile in the EU. Risk-averse farmers are therefore seeking income stabilizing measures. Margin insurance is among the feasible options but is not yet established in the EU. The purpose of this paper is to explore such an insurance under EU conditions for a major crop. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores conditions for a viable margin insurance. It presents a modeled-loss trigger for a margin insurance scheme using wheat production in Austria as the case study. Findings While margin insurance products are widely used in the USA, such products are not available in the EU. Basis risk seems to be an important reason. An exploration of wheat production in Austria shows that heterogeneity among farms is relevant. The authors demonstrate an approach aiming to lower basis risks. Research limitations/implications This paper presents a technically feasible approach to handle the basis risk of a margin insurance under EU conditions. Before such a product can be placed on the market, further research on systemic risk is needed. Market research is necessary to fine-tune the details of the product to meet the actual demand of farmers. Further empirical validation of the modeled losses is needed. Legal implications are not explored in this paper. Practical implications The insurance product presented here demonstrates a concept that is established in the USA under EU conditions. It is motivated by several shortcomings of income risk mitigation approaches in the EU. Social implications Income risk may be seen as a problem of social policy. The approach shows that it can be addressed by market-oriented instruments. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to propose a tool to handle basis risk for margin insurance products in agriculture in the EU. A special feature of the proposed approach is that it is not limited to a single product such as wheat.

Bio-economic modelling of decisions under yield and price risk for suckler cow farms

Applying a bio-economic whole-farm model, we assess the impact of price and weather risk as well as different risk-management strategies on the variability of the gross margin in Swiss suckler cow production. For instance, flexible adjustment of fodder composition, feed stocks, or land use as well as gross margin insurance are considered. Our results show that assuming moderate risk aversion farms’ gross margin variability is rather high, with a coefficient of variation of gross margin ranging from 19 to 21%. Accounting for on-farm risk-management strategies we find that gross margin variability can be reduced significantly, causing only low reductions of average gross margin levels. We find that the use of maize as a switch crop and a market for the trade of roughage are the most efficient risk-management strategies. Our results also indicate that gross margin insurance is not attractive for farmers. Thus in particular promoting better access to markets for feedstuffs provides a valuable opportunity for farmers to manage gross margin risks.