Analysis of factors affecting the participation of greenhouse tomato growers in agricultural insurance in Antalya.

The agricultural is an important sector in the economy in terms of GDP contribution, employment, food security and price stability. Risk management in agriculture is an area in which governments are closely interested and intervene to ensure agricultural supply, enhance and stabilize producer income and supply food at reasonable prices. The fact that agricultural production is directly affected by various risks (climate, disease, economic, financial, social, etc.) has paved the way for the rapid development of risk management programs in agriculture. Among these programs, agricultural insurance is implemented in many developing countries during recent years. It has also become widespread as a risk management tool that mitigates the impact of climate and disease (plant and animal health) risks faced by producers. Agricultural insurances have an important role to play on producer income and to reduce the risk of harvest (yield and quality loss). The aim of this study is to determine the effect of farmers who grow tomatoes under cover in Antalya: the level of participation in agricultural insurance, the factors affecting participation and the effect of this insurance on the operational performance (yield per unit area). The data of the study was collected from a survey which was conducted by interviewing 103 enterprises which were determined under the stratified sampling method in Alanya, Manavgat, Serik, Aksu, Kepez, Kumluca, Demre and Kaş. Data from sample enterprises were analyzed with a two-stage econometric model known as the Heckman model. In the first stage, a standard probit model was used to determine the variables explaining participation in insurance. In the second stage, Inverse Mill's Ratio from the probit model was used as an explanatory variable in the performance model. In the second stage, the effect of the econometric model on agricultural performance and other variables with respect to farm performance (yield) was investigated by using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method. In the model, the participation of agricultural insurance and the efficiency of the enterprise were used as dependent variables. Land size (decare), seedling price, farmer's experience (years), internet use, land ownership, production system (single cultivation vs double cultivation) and risk experience were used as independent variables. According to the results of Heckman model: in the first stage, land size, internet usage, seedling price and credit usage were found to be positive variables that affect the participation in agricultural insurance. In addition, production with single planting preference, risk experience and experience of the farmer has been found to affect negatively the decision to participate in insurance. According to the results of the second stage: the decision on participation in agricultural insurance has a positive effect on the performance (yield) but not statistically significant. According to the model results, land size, internet usage, production with single planting preference and the ownership of the land affect the yield positively but farmer's experience and seedling price affect the yield negatively.