ABSTRACT

Increasing urbanization and industrial development upstream of the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam (MRD) including the construction of a series of dams for hydroelectricity generation is changing the downstream risk of flooding. Concerns about the likely influence of global climate change and rising sea levels add further uncertainty to this risk that threatens the livelihood of farmers. With this in mind and in view of the under-developed state of the market for crop insurance in the MRD, we survey rice growers to explore their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for crop insurance by using a choice experiment. The experimental design comprised five attributes, including the type of peril covered – riverine flooding (flooding); flooding triggered by tidal regimes (inundation); or flooding, inundation and wind damage – type of provider; extent of cover and deductible and premium. Two hundred and twenty-six rice-growing farmers were surveyed with each farmer responding to six different choices. Our study shows that WTPs for an insurance plan covering a loss up to 2 million VND/1000m²/farming season and having a deductible of 25% of the potential (profit) crop value varied between 200,000 and 500,000 VND/1000m² (1USD = 22,550 Vietnamese Dong – VND) for each rice growing season, implying a potential market for crop insurance.

摘要

越南湄公河三角洲（MRD）上游的城市化进程和工业发展不断增强，包括建造一系列水力发电大坝，正在改变下游的洪灾风险。对全球气候变化和海平面上升的可能影响的担忧进一步加剧了这种威胁农民生计的风险的不确定性。考虑到这一点，并考虑到MRD中作物保险市场的欠发达状况，我们对水稻种植者进行了调查，以通过选择试验探索他们的作物保险支付意愿（WTP）。实验设计包括五个属性，包括覆盖的危险类型–河道洪水（洪水）；潮汐政权引发的洪水（洪水）；或洪水，洪水和风灾–提供者的类型；承保范围，自付额和保险费。对262个水稻种植农民进行了调查，每个农民对六个不同的选择做出了回应。我们的研究表明，保险计划的WTP覆盖的损失高达200万越南盾/ 1000万越南盾² /耕作季节，每个水稻生长期的潜在（获利）作物价值的25％免赔额在200,000至500,000 VND / 1000m ²（1USD = 22,550越南盾– VND）之间变化，这意味着潜在的作物保险市场。