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Sri Lanka | Boosting Farmers'​ Resilience

Five Questions with Kanchana Wickramasinghe, Research Economist at the Institute of Policy Studies in Sri Lanka, and winner of the US$30,000 First Prize of the Japanese Award for Outstanding Research, administered by the Global Development Network in 2014.

Q. You researched crop insurance in Sri Lanka. Why did it never take off, even though it was introduced decades ago?

 A. Over the past decade, only around 4-5 per cent of the paddy crop across the country was insured. In all study areas in Anuradhapura district where I conducted my study, I could see that a lack of trust, awareness and understanding of the concept of crop insurance were constraining its uptake. Borrowing – either from formal or informal sources – is a common risk management strategy among farmers. The only reason they get crop insurance is to fulfill bank requirements for agricultural loans. But, people do see that crop insurance can be helpful in repaying borrowings in the event of a disaster such as a drought or a flood which destroys crops and the ability to repay loans.

Q. Aren’t your results surprising given that literacy is over 90% in the country, and human development is rising? What is missing to help farmers warm up to the idea of crop insurance?

A. High level of literacy rates among farmers could be a plus point for getting crop insurance popularized, but it is not sufficient. Crop insurance should address the specific climate risk management needs of the farmers for it to be successful. This element has been missing in existing programs. A lack of farmer education and awareness was found to be a key barrier in promoting crop insurance according to my survey findings in Anuradhapura district. The Agrarian and Agriculture Insurance Board has not been able to undertake effective promotion activities at ground level due to lack of resources.

Q. What are your own motivations for studying crop insurance? Who are your findings most useful to?

A. When I was undertaking a post-graduate diploma in the International Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands, I wanted to research the social protection dimension in regard to natural disasters. I noticed that the existing framework for social protection does not effectively cover Sri Lankan farmers against climate related risks and vulnerabilities. Later, I got involved in several other policy-oriented climate change research projects in the country. I really feel that this issue needs detailed research, especially since droughts and floods have been more frequent and severe in Sri Lanka, in the recent past. I hope that the findings will be useful to public and private players in the field of crop insurance, agriculture, and climate change in Sri Lanka.

Q. Your research proposes a range of solutions to mainstream crop insurance in Sri Lanka. What are the most important steps to undertake and who can support the realization of this agenda?

A. My study suggests paying more attention towards index-based crop insurance, as it might be able to get rid of the issues in the existing indemnity-based schemes. However, index-based insurance needs time-series data as well as timely data. It is very important to have meaningful collaborations with agencies that generate rainfall data. Further, we will need to have more rain gauge stations in order to ensure successful implementation of index-based insurance, from a technical point of view. For farmers, a comprehensive program on education and awareness is also a must. 

Q. What are you doing to promote your findings in Sri Lanka? Where can we read about your work online?

I conducted a national level workshop in January with the participation of all the key stakeholders to disseminate the findings of the study, supported by the Global Development Network, “Demand for climate insurance by dry zone farmers in Sri Lanka.” We distributed a summary of findings in the workshop, so that policymakers can easily read them. I am also planning to produce a working paper with details, which is being planned for publication this year . 

Most of my publications are available on ResearchGate. My twitter handle is @Kanchi_w, where I update my research work.

Read the complete paper here.

In conversation with Madhuri Dass, Head of Communications, Global Development Network, March, 2017.