A Gender Responsive Approach To Designing Agricultural Risk Management Bundles

o Bundling agricultural insurance with risk-reducing agricultural technologies can lower the cost of insurance for farmers, but before implementing bundled solutions, it is important to analyze how these bundles would impact men and women differently. o Using a survey with 900 men and women farmers in Odisha, India, we find that women and men have similar farming practices and input use in general, but women face more difficulties in hiring labor and transplant rice later than men. o Using biophysical crop models, we show that this delay in transplanting lowers expected yields and increases risk exposure for women farmers. o Direct-seeded rice (DSR) is a promising alternative method for establishing rice that can help to mitigate the risks posed by climate change. Our findings indicate DSR is especially beneficial for women farmers. o Gender-responsive policies are needed to ensure that women farmers have equitable access to agricultural insurance and risk-reducing technologies.