농업여건 변화에 대응한 농업보험정책 발전 방안

Abstract

2001년 농작물 및 가축재해보험이 도입된 이래 짧은 기간이지만 대상 품목 및 보장 범위를 지속적으로 확대하였고 보험 가입 규모도 꾸준히 증가하여 농업보험은 우리 농업에서 경영 안정 정책으로서 중요한 역할을 담당하고 있다. 농업인안전재해보험도 실제로 위험도가 높은 작업인 농작업 중 발생할 수 있는 상해에 대해 사후 보상함으로써 농업인의 체감 만족도는 매우 높은 사업이다. 이렇듯 농업보험은 농가가 위험에 대비할 수 있는 환경을 효율적으로 구축한다는 면에서 실효성 있는 정책으로 발전하였고 정부 지원 규모도 크게 증가하였다.

하지만 도입된 지 20여 년이 지난 지금, 농업보험정책이 정책으로서 역할을 다하고, 지속하기 위해서는 양적 성장뿐 아니라 질적 개선이 필요한 시점이다. 보험의 가장 큰 역기능인 역선택과 도덕적 해이 문제가 여전히 존재한다. 보험료에 대한 지원이 50% 이상이기 때문에 이러한 역기능이 발생할 가능성이 더욱 높다. 농가의 소득, 매출 정보가 투명하지 않아 보험 인프라가 취약한 상황이라 상품 개선을 통해 가입률을 높이는 것이 한계에 다다른 시점에서 보험정책의 효율성을 높여 정책 기능을 수행할 방안을 모색할 시점이다.

이 연구는 농업정책보험에 대한 종합 연구이다. 우리 농업보험 전반을 다루며, 개별 보험 분석을 통해 과제를 도출하고 보험 발전 단계별 개선 방안을 제시하고자 한다.

Background of Research The agricultural insurance program is a government policy that protects farmers against farm management risk through insurance. Recently, extreme weather conditions such as extreme drought and abnormally high temperatures have become frequent, and the scale of natural disasters has increased. Also, due to the full-time farming fostering policy, large-sized farms have become more vulnerable to natural disasters. As production in greenhouse crops and livestock has increased, external factors such as pests and animal diseases that affect the quality of farm products have become significant risks as well. Also, the agricultural market is increasingly affected by external factors such as rapid market changes and market opening. In order to mitigate these risks, the insurance policy, out of farm safety net policies, has been gradually expanded. As the agricultural insurance program has grown remarkably, it is likely to become an essential means of agricultural policy in the future. It is time to enhance policy convergence after examining the overall agricultural insurance policy to prepare for changes in internal and external conditions in the agricultural sector.

Research Methodology This study used the literature review, surveys, and econometric analysis. Also, we reviewed academic research papers on various agricultural insurance programs. The questionnaire survey was conducted by e-mail and telephone targeting 1,102 farmers (KREI local correspondents). The econometric model was used to analyze farmers’ perception of crop insurance and the existence of inefficiency in farmers’ safety insurance.

Findings First, the crop insurance program needs to increase the coverage rate for efficient management. Second, for the farmer and agricultural worker insurance program, its coverage needs to be differentiated. The farmer insurance needs to eliminate social inefficiency coming from over-insurance. The agricultural worker insurance needs to broaden coverage. Third, the livestock insurance program needs to alleviate the unbalanced coverage, which is mainly concentrating on high-risk livestock. Also, it has to remove blind spots for disaster compensation, improve the underwriting system to prevent moral hazards, and examine the introduction of a national reinsurance program concerning contagious animal diseases. Fourth, the agricultural machinery insurance program needs to increase the coverage of farm-owned machinery. Based on the above tasks, the specific development plans of three stages—introduction, growth, and maturity— are as follows: In the introduction stage, first, it is necessary to give more discounts to low-risk farmers and to provide a lower subsidy rate to high-risk farmers compared to average risk farmers to alleviate adverse selection. Also, product-specific improvements are needed to mitigate the gap in the coverage among livestock groups in the livestock insurance program. Second, the product types of the farmer insurance program should be minimized. Since there is no significant difference in the level of coverage for each product in general types, some general types of farmer insurance should be re-examined. In the growth stage, first, it is required to examine— or consider—the introduction of the catastrophic crop insurance (CAT) as a component of the crop insurance program. As the purpose of the natural disaster countermeasure program is to save the livelihood, the amount of compensation is low. Thus, it is pretty limited to offset the loss incurred from natural disasters. On the other hand, the CAT can overcome this limitation and make it easier for farmers to buy insurance. Second, it is necessary to subdivide the regional unit that is the basis for rating premium to reflect local characteristics more specifically. Third, policy combination is needed to expand farmers’ responsibility for risk management. Fourth, it is necessary to introduce a national reinsurance program in the livestock insurance program. Fifth, farmers should be mandatorily covered for the agricultural machinery insurance program. Finally, the loss appraisal system needs to be revised. In the maturation stage, first, it is required to reflect pest damage compensation and quality evaluation concerning products with low insurance coverage and to develop various insurance products such as price insurance or revenue insurance programs on the condition that farmers provide income data. Second, the different rates of subsidy should be applied. Currently, crop insurance subsidies are not differentiated, so large-sized farms receive more subsidies in proportion to the amount of liability. Regardless of farm size, the crop insurance program should play a significant role as a component of the risk management policy for all farms. For this, it is required to examine the introduction of differential subsidy rating and subsidy ceiling. Third, in order to expand the coverage of agricultural workers who may not be well protected against disasters, the government should consider introducing a mandatory insurance program for these workers in the short run and an industrial compensation insurance program for all farmers in the long run. Fourth, it is necessary to introduce a regular review system for crop insurance premium rates. If premium rates are improperly calculated, the insured will leave the insurance program, and this will impair the effectiveness of the crop insurance policy due to low coverage. Therefore, it is necessary to review the method of premium rating periodically and to ensure that stable premium rates are maintained. Fifth, it is necessary to develop a decision-making program that can support farmers' decision-making for participating in the crop insurance program. Sixth, it is necessary to examine whether to include contagious animal disease compensations in livestock insurance in the medium to long-term. The government compensates livestock farms for the direct loss of livestock disposal in the event of contagious animal diseases. However, livestock farmers are still exposed to risk as there is not a sufficient compensation system for indirect loss of livestock disposal.

Researchers: Kim Meebok, Kim Taehoo, Ha Inhye Research period: 2019. 1. ~ 2019. 10. E-mail address: mbkim@krei.re.kr