Impact of agricultural insurance on productivity: A regional assessment in Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of agricultural insurance policies in Brazilian regions, focusing on the productivity of insured rural producers. For this purpose, secondary databases made available by the Central Bank (Bacen) of rural producers in Brazil were used, covering the agricultural years from 2016 to 2017, for agriculture. In addition, we sought to work with the propensity score matching (PSM) method. The results showed a concentration of producers and policies contracted in the South Region. On the other hand, the North and Northeast Regions had a low quantity. Finally, it was found that insured rural producers had a higher average level of productivity than uninsured producers. Therefore, agricultural insurance proved to be an efficient policy instrument in terms of increasing productivity, mainly in the Midwest, Southeast and South regions, regions that demand about 90% of agricultural insurance in the country.