1,720,956 research outputs found
Climate risk coping strategies of maize low-income farmers: A South African Perspective
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of climate risk coping strategies of smallholders in a South African perspective. A quantitative research approach was followed using surveys to collect primary data from participants in key maize producing provinces of South Africa. The results analysed employing multinomial regression, show that reduction of crop production in times of uncertainly is the most preferred coping mechanism. The study further revealed that farmers who use crop insurance have the highest level of preparedness to manage weather risk. The findings contribute to advancing knowledge, guiding policymakers and increasing efficiencies of risk mitigation efforts especially climate risk solutions in the context of climate change and persistent drought affecting South African farmers
A conceptual framework for factors that influence willingness of low-income farmers to pay for weather index insurance in South Africa.
Get PDFDoctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Weather index insurance is an emerging risk management instrument in the African agricultural landscape designed for low-income farmers that are perpetually vulnerable to weather-related production hazards due to unprecedented intensification in climate variability, particularly in the era of climate change and increasing drought events. Research on weather index insurance in South Africa is still at an embryonic stage, partly attributable to very limited market-based climate risk transfer solutions in the country. However, interest from government and the insurance industry demonstrates a focused approach towards creating more inclusive insurance markets. The purpose of this study was to develop a critical understanding from a behavioural and economic perspective of low-income farmers’ willingness-to-pay for weather index insurance, and to develop a conceptual framework grounded on the Theory of Planned Behaviour for factors that influence these purchase decisions. Quantitative research methods were followed, using a probability sample of 326, from a target population of 1774 low-income maize farmers in the Free State, North West, and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. Following stratified random sampling, structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data based on telephonic interactions. From the surveys conducted, a 68.7% response rate was obtained. The data were analyzed using an integrated approach of structural equation modelling and logistic regression to evaluate variables that influence low-income farmers’ willingness to pay for weather index insurance. The study reported that 86% of farmers were willing to purchase the insurance for security reasons to protect their respective businesses and their welfare. The findings revealed that while insurance culture and risk perception were found to have a direct effect on willingness-to-pay, financial capability was not related to purchase intentions. From a socio-economic perspective, access to credit and group membership were significant factors found to have a positive influence on willingness-to-pay. The study advances the understanding of an underserved market and assists in framing future weather index insurance products in the country. One of the main recommendations is that it is important for policymakers to adopt a systemic approach to agricultural financing where insurance plays a critical risk mitigating role in the broader context of agricultural development
The impact of foreign direct Investment on the development of weather index insurance for low-income farmers in Southern Africa
Get PDFThis paper investigates the effect of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the growth of agricultural insurance markets for low-income farmers in Southern Africa for the period 2010 to 2020. Agricultural insurance products for low-income farmers are typically based on weather index insurance contracts. These insurance contracts are cost-effective responses to uninsured agricultural risk in developing economies, and are often considered part of effective ex-ante climate change adaptation strategies. The approach followed in this paper is to assess the extent of FDI transactional flows based on a literature review of past and present pilots as well as market-based weather index insurance schemes. The findings revealed that FDI is relatively low to support weather index insurance development and there exists massive scale for expansion and economic growth opportunities. The study advocates for an improved policy environment with a focus on increasing agricultural productivity among low-income farmers while promoting parallel climate change mitigation strategies, this is likely to have spill-over effects on the acceleration and development of appropriate insurance solutions
The impact of trust in the developing sector of microinsurance in South Africa
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to investigates the influence of trust on insurance penetration in the developing Microinsurance sector of South Africa. Legacy issues and deeply rooted structural and institutional frailties have resulted in substandard levels of financial inclusion for low-income earners in the country. This segment of consumers is highly vulnerable to social, economic and as the covid-19 pandemic has proved, health shocks. Microinsurance has often been touted as a solution to improve resilience and turn the tide of significant adverse economic outcomes for the low-income segment. This paper explores the role of trust as a key construct for business success in the microinsurance sector. The study findings indicate that creation of trust and reassurance that claims will be honored when liability occurs are the main elements valued by prospective and existing microinsurance consumers. These findings contribute to advancing knowledge within the microinsurance segment, in particular, key traits needed in constructing a successful insurance programme as well as the messaging and serving element that needs to be placed at the forefront of product design and marketing in order to build trust
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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