Agricultural Insurance: A Critical Analysis of Perception and Performance of NAIS in Jammu & Kashmir

The aim of this study was to find the perceptions of farmers and insurance specialists on agricultural insurance in Jammu & Kashmir. The study areas were under Chaos theory and Ragers theory and by using cluster sampling techniques, 320 crop producers (200 beneficiaries and 120 non-beneficiaries) and 20 insurance specialists were selected for the study. The study has reported that both crops and livestock producers face several risks and dangers and they have perceived that agricultural insurance is beneficial to them. Theses producers indicated that over the past ten years, incidence of diseases, droughts, floods, cold weather, hail storms, etc. were primarily responsible for the damage and loss in their operations of agricultural processes and consequently, reasons behind the need of adoption of insurance. Most of the respondents regarded the insurance premium as reasonable. The major obstacles hampering the development of rural livestock insurance, as perceived by the insurance specialists, included the lack of equipment and facilities at the agricultural bank branches and lack of knowledge among livestock farmers about the benefits of agricultural insurance.