Smallholder farmers in semi-arid West Africa face challenges such as weather variability, soil infertility, and inadequate market infrastructure, hindering their adoption of improved farming practices. Economic risks associated with uncertain weather, production and market conditions often result in measures such as selling assets and withdrawing children from school, resulting in long-term impoverishment. To break these poverty traps, there is a need for affordable and sustainable risk management approaches at the farm level. Proposed strategies include risk reduction through stress-resistant crop varieties and diversification, additional investments transfer options like crop insurance and contract farming. Despite experimentation with insurance products in sub-Saharan Africa, low adoption persists due to many factors including high premiums, imperfect indices, and cognitive factors.

中文翻译：

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基于指数的农作物保险稳定加纳北部小农户毛利率的潜力


西非半干旱地区的小农户面临着天气变化、土壤不肥力和市场基础设施不足等挑战，阻碍了他们采用改进的耕作方式。与不确定的天气、生产和市场条件相关的经济风险往往会导致诸如出售资产和让儿童辍学等措施，从而导致长期贫困。为了打破这些贫困陷阱，需要在农场层面采用负担得起且可持续的风险管理方法。拟议的策略包括通过抗逆作物品种和多样化来降低风险，额外的投资转移选项，如作物保险和合同农业。尽管在撒哈拉以南非洲进行了保险产品试验，但由于许多因素，包括高保费、不完美的指数和认知因素，采用率仍然很低。