Vol. 2008 No. 1 (2008)
Gender-Specific Livestock Insurance and Women Farmers in Tanzania: A Longitudinal Study on Risk Transfer Efficiency
Abstract
Tanzania's agricultural sector is vulnerable to livestock diseases such as Trypanosomiasis, which disproportionately affects women farmers who often lack insurance coverage. A longitudinal study was conducted with 120 randomly selected female farmers, using mixed-effect logistic regression to analyse insurance uptake and coverage dynamics. The study found that women farmers who participated in the gender-specific insurance scheme had a lower prevalence of cattle affected by Trypanosomiasis compared to those not insured (p < 0.05). Gender-specific livestock insurance significantly improved risk transfer efficiency for female farmers, reducing their exposure to herd losses due to disease. Policy makers should promote gender-sensitive agricultural insurance programmes that cater specifically to the needs of women farmers in Tanzania. The empirical specification follows $Y=\beta_0+\beta^\top X+\varepsilon$, and inference is reported with uncertainty-aware statistical criteria.