Considerations In The Introduction Of Crop Insurance To Rice Sector In Korea

Agricultural production depends much on uncontrollable weather conditions, which often threatens farmers' livelihoods. Weather risks are especially important for farmers in developing countries where they are still cultivating with conventional methods and less well developed irrigation and drainage systems and equipment. Moreover, seasonality and cyclicality hinder growth of agricultural sectors and make farm households' incomes unstable. Two measures for dealing with such problems in the agricultural sector include 1) Governmental price intervention and the expansion of farming bases, and 2) the establishment of governmentally run agricultural disaster insurance. As stated later, even though government plays a major role in an agricultural insurance program in most developing countries through the subsidization of premiums for insurance, there is still little difference in the basic principles of insurance between developed and undeveloped countries. Generally speaking, conditions for farming in Korea are never very good. Due to monsoons and continental climate Korea often is in the range of typhoons with heavy rains during summertime but with very dry weather in the springtime, which adversely affects paddy-crop farming. A crop insurance program for the purpose of stabilizing farm income fluctuation is discussed, along with the obstacles, in chapter VII. These obstacles have repeatedly blocked the idea of introducing crop insurance programs for the agricultural sector. This paper is the result of my strong desire to establish agricultural insurance programs in the rural area of Korea to help farmers enjoy more stable lives and contribute to agricultural production. Even though agriculture is decreasing in Korea as a proportion of the national economy, about ten million people still depend on the success of agriculture. Korean agriculture is still producing more then fifteen percent of the national GNP. I will specialize on crop insurance for rice which is Korea's major crop and probably the leading candidate for the introduction of crop insurance programs into Korean agriculture.