Assessment of the Levels of Awareness and Use of Agricultural Insurance Scheme among the Rural Farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria

The study investigated the levels of awareness and use of agricultural insurance scheme in Kogi State of Nigeria. A total of 240 respondents from eight communities were selected through a multistage random sampling technique. Data collected through structured questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistic, percentages and sigma scoring model. The results revealed that farmers in the State are mostly males (95%) with low levels of education and an average farm size of 3.2 hectares. The study further revealed that majority of the farmers belong to low income group with about 55 percent earning less than N100,000.00 per annum. The sigma score of 5.04 for the level of awareness showed a high level of awareness of agricultural insurance scheme among the rural farmers in the state. However, the sigma score of 3.26 reported for the level of use revealed a low level of agricultural insurance usage in the area. The major sources of information of agricultural insurance scheme to the farmers were cooperative societies (66%) and extension agents (65%). The major problems preventing the usage of agricultural insurance by the farmers in the State were fear of failure to honour agreement (75%), high insurance premium (66%), inadequate financial resources (65%) and non-coverage of many crops (61%). The study then recommended among others, the prompt payment of benefits to farmers and expansion of the scope of the scheme to cover other major crops. [Stephen Jimoh Ibitoye. Assessment of the Levels of Awareness and Use of Agricultural Insurance Scheme among the Rural Farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology, 2012; 2(3):143-148].