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Examining the feasibility of livestock insurance in Mongolia

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  • Skees, Jerry R.*Enkh-Amgalan, Ayurzana

Abstract

Herders in Mongolia have suffered tremendous losses in recent dzud (winter disasters), with livestock mortality rates of over 50 percent in some locales. This study examines the feasibility of offering insurance to compensate for animal deaths. Such an undertaking is challenging in any country. Mongolia offers even more challenges given the vast territory in which herders tend over 30 million animals. Traditional approaches that insure individual animals are simply not workable. The opportunities for fraud and abuse are significant. Monitoring costs required to mitigate this behavior would be very high. This study focuses on the potential for using the livestock mortality rate at a local level (for example, the sum or rural district) as the basis for indemnifying herders. Applications of index insurance are growing around the world, although no country has so far implemented such insurance for livestock deaths. But few countries have such frequent and high rates of localized animal deaths as does Mongolia, and it is one of the few countries that perform an animal census every year. This concept may therefore be precisely what is needed to start a social livestock insurance program. Just as important, the insurance that is used in Mongolia should not interfere with the exceptional efforts that experienced herders take to save animals during severe weather. Using an individual insurance may, in fact, diminish these efforts. Herders may ask,"Why should I work so hard to save my animals if I will simply be compensated for those that are lost?"Since the index insurance would pay all herders in the same region the same rate, the incentives for management to mitigate livestock losses remain strong. No one would reduce their effort to collect on insurance. Those who increase their efforts during a major event (dzud) would likely be compensated for this effort even though they do not lose livestock. In some cases, they could reasonably expect to receive payments that would compensate for the added effort or the added cost of trying to save their livestock.

Suggested Citation

  • Skees, Jerry R.*Enkh-Amgalan, Ayurzana, 2002. "Examining the feasibility of livestock insurance in Mongolia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2886, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:2886
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    Cited by:

    1. Arias, Diego & Covarrubias, Katia, 2006. "Agricultural Insurance in Mesoamerica: An Opportunity to Deepen Rural Financial Markets," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3042, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Barnett, Barry J. & Barrett, Christopher B. & Skees, Jerry R., 2008. "Poverty Traps and Index-Based Risk Transfer Products," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1766-1785, October.
    3. Diego Arias & Katia Covarrubias, 2006. "Agricultural Insurance in Mesoamerica: An Opportunity to Deepen Rural Financial Markets," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 36538, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. Veronika Bertram-Huemmer & Kati Kraehnert, 2018. "Does Index Insurance Help Households Recover from Disaster? Evidence from IBLI Mongolia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(1), pages 145-171.
    5. Valeria Groppo & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "The impact of extreme weather events on education," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 433-472, April.
    6. Catherine Guirkinger & Stephen R. Boucher, 2008. "Credit constraints and productivity in Peruvian agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(3), pages 295-308, November.
    7. Leiva, Akssell J. & Skees, Jerry R., 2008. "Using Irrigation Insurance to Improve Water Usage of the Rio Mayo Irrigation System in Northwestern Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2663-2678, December.
    8. Katharina Lehmann-Uschner & Kati Krähnert, 2018. "When Shocks Become Persistent: Household-Level Asset Growth in the Aftermath of an Extreme Weather Event," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1759, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Nisha Subed & Samir Poudel, 2020. "Effects Of Climate Change On Agriculture And Its Mitigation Through Climate Smart Agriculture Practices In Nepal," Tropical Agrobiodiversity (TRAB), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 47-51, October.
    10. Vermeulen, S. J. & Aggarwal, Pramod & Ainslie, A. & Angelone, C. & Campbell, B. M. & Challinor, A. J. & Hansen, J. W. & Ingram, J. S. I. & Jarvis, A. & Kristjanson, P. & Lau, C. & Nelson, G. C. & Thor, 2010. "Agriculture, food security and climate change: outlook for knowledge, tools and action. Background paper prepared for The Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, 31 October ," IWMI Research Reports H044643, International Water Management Institute.
    11. H. Holly Wang & Raphael N. Karuaihe & Douglas L. Young & Yuehua Zhang, 2013. "Farmers' demand for weather-based crop insurance contracts: the case of maize in south africa," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 87-110, March.
    12. Allison Hahn, 2018. "Complexity of Mongolian stakeholders’ dzud preparation and response," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 92(1), pages 127-143, November.
    13. Katharina Lehmann-Uschner & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "Food Intake and the Role of Food Self-Provisioning," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(8), pages 1303-1322, August.
    14. Xu, Yecheng & Zhang, Yaoqi & Chen, Jiquan & John, Ranjeet, 2019. "Livestock dynamics under changing economy and climate in Mongolia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Isaboke, Hezron Nyarindo & Qiao, Zhang & Nyarindo, Wilckyster Nyateko & Ke, Wang, 2016. "Explaining The Perception Of Smallholders Towards Weather Index Micro-Insurance Alongside Risks And Coping Strategies," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 4(4), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Julian Roeckert & Kati Kraehnert, 2022. "Extreme Weather Events and Internal Migration: Evidence from Mongolia," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 95-128, March.
    17. Groppo, Valeria & Kraehnert, Kati, 2016. "Extreme Weather Events and Child Height: Evidence from Mongolia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 59-78.
    18. Mohamed Keinan Hassan & Jane Gathenya & Mike Iravo, 2017. "Moderating Effect of Index Based Livestock Insurance on Socio-Cultural Factors Affecting Performance of Livestock Projects in North Eastern Kenya," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 99-116, March.
    19. Mogge, Lukas, 2023. "A District-Level Analysis of the Effect of Risk Exposure on the Demand for Index Insurance in Mongolia," Ruhr Economic Papers 1018, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    20. Schindler, Kati & Groppo, Valeria, 2014. "The impact of extreme weather events on child health: Evidence from Mongolia," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100370, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Diana Fletschner & Catherine Guirkinger & Steve Boucher, 2010. "Risk, Credit Constraints and Financial Efficiency in Peruvian Agriculture," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 981-1002.
    22. Leiva, Akssell J. & Skees, Jerry R., 2006. "An Empirical Evaluation of Irrigation Insurance for Agricultural Systems in the Mexican Northwest," Annual Meeting, 2006, May 25-28, Montreal, Quebec 34177, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.
    23. Philip Thornton & Pierre Gerber, 2010. "Climate change and the growth of the livestock sector in developing countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 169-184, February.

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