Performance of Temperature-Related Weather Index for Agricultural Insurance of Three Main Crops in China

Jing Zhang; Zhao Zhang; Fulu Tao

doi:10.1007/s13753-017-0115-z

Article Contents

Article Navigation > International Journal of Disaster Risk Science > 2017 > 8(1): 78-90

Jing Zhang, Zhao Zhang, Fulu Tao. Performance of Temperature-Related Weather Index for Agricultural Insurance of Three Main Crops in China[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2017, 8(1): 78-90. doi: 10.1007/s13753-017-0115-z

Citation:

Jing Zhang, Zhao Zhang, Fulu Tao. Performance of Temperature-Related Weather Index for Agricultural Insurance of Three Main Crops in China[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2017, 8(1): 78-90. doi: 10.1007/s13753-017-0115-z

Citation:

PDF

Performance of Temperature-Related Weather Index for Agricultural Insurance of Three Main Crops in China

doi: 10.1007/s13753-017-0115-z

Jing Zhang¹,
Zhao Zhang^{1
,
,},
Fulu Tao^{2
,
,}

1 State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology/Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Hazards, Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
2 Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Funds:

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Number:41571493, 41571088, and 31561143003) and the State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology. We are grateful to reviewers and editors for their insightful comments on this article.

Available Online: 2021-04-26

Abstract

Abstract

In this study, two categories of weather index-absolute index and relative index-for chilling injury and heat damage of three main crops in China were assessed to identify insurable counties. First, correlations between selected weather indices and yield losses were examined for each county. If a correlation was significant, the county was categorized as "insurable" for the corresponding hazard or index. Second, the spatial distribution of insurable counties was characterized and finally, their correlation coefficients were analyzed at various spatial scales. The results show that the spatial patterns of insurable areas varied by categories of weather indices, crops, and hazards. Moreover, the weather indices based on relative threshold of temperature were more suitable for chilling injury in most regions, whereas the indices based on absolute threshold were more suitable for heat damage. The findings could help the Chinese government and insurance companies to design effective insurance products.
- Chilling injury,
- China,
- Crop insurance,
- Heat damage,
- Weather index

FullText(HTML)

References(60)

References

Alexander, L.V., X. Zhang, T.C. Peterson, J. Caesar, B. Gleason, A.M.G. Klein Tank, and A. Tagipour. 2006. Global observed changes in daily climate extremes of temperature and precipitation. Journal of Geophysical Research:Atmospheres. doi: 10.1029/2005JD006290.

Antón, J., A. Cattaneo, S. Kimura, and J. Lankoski. 2013. Agricultural risk management policies under climate uncertainty. Global Environmental Change 23(6):1726-1736.

Barnett, B.J., and O. Mahul. 2007. Weather index insurance for agriculture and rural areas in lower-income countries. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89(5):1241-1247.

Binswanger-Mkhize, H.P. 2012. Is there too much hype about index-based agricultural insurance? Journal of Development Studies 48(2):187-200.

Bonett, D.G., and T.A. Wright. 2000. Sample size requirements for estimating Pearson, Kendall and Spearman correlations. Psychometrika 65(1):23-28.

Boyd, M., J. Pai, Z. Qiao, and W. Ke. 2011. Crop insurance principles and risk implications for China. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment 17(3):554-565.

Challinor, A.J., T.R. Wheeler, P.Q. Craufurd, and J.M. Slingo. 2005. Simulation of the impact of high temperature stress on annual crop yields. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 135(1):180-189.

Chen, Y., Z. Zhang, P. Wang, X. Song, X. Wei, and F.L. Tao. 2016. Identifying the impact of multi-hazards on crop yield-a case for heat stress and dry stress on winter wheat yield in northern China. European Journal of Agronomy 73:55-63.

CMA (China Meteorological Administration). 2008. QX/T 88-2008, Grade of crop frost damage. Beijing:China Standards Press (in Chinese).

CMA (China Meteorological Administration). 2013. QX/T 182-2013, Technical code for evaluation of rice chilling injury. Beijing:China Standards Press.

Clarke, D.J., D. Clarke, O. Mahul, K.N. Rao, and N. Verma. 2012. Weather based crop insurance in India. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5985. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2016750. Accessed 15 Mar 2017.

Collier, B., J. Skees, and B. Barnett. 2009. Weather index insurance and climate change:Opportunities and challenges in lower income countries. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance-Issues and Practice 34(3):401-424.

Devore, J.L., and K.N. Berk. 2007. Modern mathematical statistics with applications. New York:Springer.

Dong, J., J. Liu, F.L. Tao, X. Xu, and J. Wang. 2009. Spatio-temporal changes in annual accumulated temperature in China and the effects on cropping systems, 1980s to 2000. Climate Research 40(1):37-48 (in Chinese).

Elabed, G., M.F. Bellemare, M.R. Carter, and C. Guirkinger. 2013. Managing basis risk with multiscale index insurance. Agricultural Economics 44(4-5):419-431.

Erec Heimfarth, L., and O. Musshoff. 2011. Weather index-based insurances for farmers in the North China plain:An analysis of risk reduction potential and basis risk. Agricultural Finance Review 71(2):218-239.

Furfey, P.H. 1927. A note on Lefever's "standard deviational ellipse". American Journal of Sociology 33(1):94-98.

General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China and Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China. 2008. GB/T 21985-2008, Temperature index of high temperature harm for main crops. Beijing:China Standards Press (in Chinese).

Gong, J. 2002. Clarifying the standard deviational ellipse. Geographical Analysis 34(2):155-167.

Hazell, P.B. 1992. The appropriate role of agricultural insurance in developing countries. Journal of International Development 4(6):567-581.

Hess, U., and H. Syroka. 2005. Weather-based insurance in Southern Africa:The case of Malawi. Washington, DC:World Bank.

Hintze, J.L., and R.D. Nelson. 1998. Violin plots:A box plot-density trace synergism. The American Statistician 52(2):181-184.

Johnson, D.P., and J.S. Wilson. 2009. The socio-spatial dynamics of extreme urban heat events:The case of heat-related deaths in Philadelphia. Applied Geography 29(3):419-434.

Ju X.S., X.W. Yang, L.J. Chen, and Y.M. Wang. 1997. Research on determination of station indexes and division of regional flood/drought grades in China. Quarterly Journal of Applied Meteorology 1:27-34 (in Chinese).

Klein Tank, A.M.G., and G.P. Können. 2003. Trends in indices of daily temperature and precipitation extremes in Europe, 1946-99. Journal of Climate 16(22):3665-3680.

Lefever, D.W. 1926. Measuring geographic concentration by means of the standard deviational ellipse. American Journal of Sociology 32(1):88-94.

Liu, B., M. Li, Y. Guo, and K. Shan. 2010. Analysis of the demand for weather index agricultural insurance on household level in Anhui, China. Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 1:179-186.

Liu, J.Y., D.F. Zhuang, D. Luo, and X.M Xiao. 2003. Land-cover classification of China:Integrated analysis of AVHRR imagery and geophysical data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 24(12):2485-2500.

Lobell, D.B., and C.B. Field. 2007. Global scale climate-crop yield relationships and the impacts of recent warming. Environmental Research Letters 2(1):014002. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/2/1/014002.

Lobell, D.B., M. Bänziger, C. Magorokosho, and B. Vivek. 2011. Nonlinear heat effects on African maize as evidenced by historical yield trials. Nature Climate Change 1(1):42-45.

Martin, S.W., B.J. Barnett, and K.H. Coble. 2001. Developing and pricing precipitation insurance. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 26(1):261-274.

Ma S.Q., Q. Wang, C.Y. Wang, and Z.G. Huo. 2008. The risk division on climate and economic loss of maize chilling damage in Northeast China. Geographical Research 27(5):1169-1177 (in Chinese).

Moore, F.C., and D.B. Lobell. 2014. Adaptation potential of European agriculture in response to climate change. Nature Climate Change 4(7):610-614.

Norton, M.T, C. Turvey, and D. Osgood. 2012. Quantifying spatial basis risk for weather index insurance. The Journal of Risk Finance 14(1):20-34.

Qian, B., X. Zhang, K. Chen, Y. Feng, and T. O'Brien. 2010. Observed long-term trends for agroclimatic conditions in Canada. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 49(4):604-618.

Okhrin, O., M. Odening, and W. Xu. 2013. Systemic weather risk and crop insurance:The case of China. Journal of Risk and Insurance 80(2):351-372.

Porter, J.R., and M.A. Semenov. 2005. Crop responses to climatic variation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B:Biological Sciences 360(1463):2021-2035.

Ray, D.K., J.S. Gerber, G.K. MacDonald, and P.C. West. 2015. Climate variation explains a third of global crop yield variability. Nature Communications 6:Article 5989.

Shi, Y., Y. Wang, J. Chi, and R. Wei. 2008. Impact of Climate Change on Winter Production in the Hebei Plain. Chinese Journal of Eco-Agriculture 16(6):1444-1447 (in Chinese).

Skees, J.R. 2001. Developing rainfall-based index insurance in Morocco. Research Working Paper 2577. Washington, DC:World Bank.

Skees, J.R. 2008. Challenges for use of index-based weather insurance in lower income countries. Agricultural Finance Review 68(1):197-217.

Skees, J. 2011. Innovations in index insurance for the poor in low-income countries. In Financial inclusion, innovation, and investments:Biotechnology and capital markets working for the poor, ed. R.D. Christy, and V.L. Bogan, 73-100. Hackensack, NJ:World Scientific Publishing Company.

Stoppa, A., and U. Hess. 2003. Design and use of weather derivatives in agricultural policies:The case of rainfall index insurance in Morocco. In Agricultural policy reform and the WTO:Where are we heading, ed. G. Anania, M.E. Bohman, C.A. Carter, and A.F. McCalla, 23-26. London:Edward Elgar Publishing.

Tao, F.L., M. Yokozawa, J. Liu, and Z. Zhang. 2008. Climate-crop yield relationships at provincial scales in China and the impacts of recent climate trends. Climate Research 38(1):83-94.

Tao, F.L., S. Zhang, and Z. Zhang. 2013. Changes in rice disasters across China in recent decades and the meteorological and agronomic causes. Regional Environmental Change 13(4):743-759.

Turvey, C.G., and R. Kong. 2010. Weather risk and the viability of weather insurance in China's Gansu, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces. China Agricultural Economic Review 2(1):5-24.

Vedenov, D.V., and B.J. Barnett. 2004. Efficiency of weather derivatives as primary crop insurance instruments. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 29(3):387-403.

Wong, D.W. 1999. Geostatistics as measures of spatial segregation. Urban Geography 20(7):635-647.

Wang, P., Z. Zhang, X. Song, Y. Chen, X. Wei, P.J. Shi, and F.L. Tao. 2014. Temperature variations and rice yields in China:Historical contributions and future trends. Climatic Change 124(4):777-789.

Wang, X.L., and V.R. Swail. 2001. Changes of extreme wave heights in Northern Hemisphere oceans and related atmospheric circulation regimes. Journal of Climate 14(10):2204-2221.

Woodard, J.D., and P. Garcia. 2008. Basis risk and weather hedging effectiveness. Agricultural Finance Review 68(1):99-117.

Xue, C., Z. Huo, S. Li, and C. Ye. 2003. Risk assessment of drought and yield losses of winter wheat in the northern part of North China. Journal of Natural Disasters 12(1):131-139 (in Chinese).

Yan, M., X. Liu, W. Zhang, X. Li, and S. Liu. 2011. Spatio-temporal changes of ≥ 10℃ accumulated temperature in northeastern China since 1961. Chinese Geographical Science 21(1):17-26.

Yang T.M., B.C. Liu, X.B. Sun, and S.P. Xun. 2013. Design and application of the weather indices of winter wheat planting insurance in Anhui Province. Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology 34(2):229-235 (in Chinese).

Yang T.M., X.B. Sun, and B.C. Liu. 2015. Design on weather indices model for insurance of rice heat damage in Anhui Province. Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology 36(2):220-226 (in Chinese).

Zhang, X., L.A. Vincent, W.D. Hogg, and A. Niitsoo. 2000. Temperature and precipitation trends in Canada during the 20th century. Atmosphere-Ocean 38(3):395-429.

Zhang, X.B., L. Alexander, G.C. Hegerl, P. Jones, A.K. Tank, T.C. Peterson, B. Trewin, and F.W. Zwiers. 2011. Indices for monitoring changes in extremes based on daily temperature and precipitation data. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:Climate Change 2(6):851-870.

Zhang, Z., P. Wang, Y. Chen, S. Zhang, F.L. Tao, and X. Liu. 2014a. Spatial pattern and decadal change of agro-meteorological disasters in the main wheat production area of China during 1991-2009. Journal of Geographical Sciences 24(3):387-396.

Zhang, Z., Y. Chen, P. Wang, S. Zhang, F.L. Tao, and X.F. Liu. 2014b. Spatial and temporal changes of agro-meteorological disasters affecting maize production in China since 1990. Natural Hazards 71(3):2087-2100.

Zhang, Z., X. Song, F.L. Tao, S. Zhang, and W.J. Shi. 2016. Climate trends and crop production in China at county scale, 1980 to 2008. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 123(1-2):291-302.

Relative Articles

Supplements(0)

Cited By

Proportional views