Farmers in India are exposed to large agriculture risks due to vagaries of nature. One of the most effective mechanisms to mitigate agricultural risks is to have a robust insurance system.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Compensation Under Crop Insurance Schemes, 19/12/2017. The details of total claims paid on the basis of individual farm level assessment of crop losses due to localized calamities including hailstorm during 2016-17 are included in this document.

This paper discusses agricultural insurance subsidies in detail and draws upon available literature and case study experiences to propose some good practice guidelines for their design and implementation.

Reviews of index-based agricultural insurance initiatives have identified several success factors that are relevant to the situation in Nigeria. First, successful initiatives have been designed to unlock particular opportunities for farmers that were previously constrained by particular risks.

Index insurance has a role to play in agricultural development and risk management, yet it faces operational and technical challenges to reach scale and sustainability. Data are a key challenge and were the focus of the project “Improving Agricultural Risk Management in Sub-Saharan Africa: Remote Sensing for Index Insurance”.