Risk attitudes of farmers in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh and their determinants

Kumara Charyulu, D and Rao, K P C (2009) Risk attitudes of farmers in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh and their determinants. Asian economic review , 51 (1). pp. 79-88.

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Abstract

Understanding the attitudes of farmers toward risk is important in understanding their decision making processes. It helps in accelerating the adoption of new technologies and agricultural development. There exists a huge gap in our knowledge of farmers’ risk attitude and their association with the personal characteristics of the farmers. The present study has been undertaken to study the risk attitudes of 80 farmers from four villages in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. The risk attitudes of the farmers were assessed by using experimental methods involving trivial but real payoffs to them. Mean-variance (E-V) utility function was used to calculate the risk aversion coefficients based on the alternative outcomes chosen by the sample farmers. The study found that slight to moderate risk aversion exists in most of the sample farmers. The slight reduction in risk attitudes between 2004 and 2006 was found to be associated with higher rainfall, better access to credit and insurance and improved levels of yields and income. Age of household head and family size were noted to increase risk aversion significantly

Item Type: Article
Divisions: UNSPECIFIED
CRP: UNSPECIFIED
Subjects: Others > Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
Depositing User: Mr B K Murthy
Date Deposited: 28 Sep 2011 05:36
Last Modified: 21 Oct 2015 09:53
URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/1969
Official URL:
Projects: UNSPECIFIED
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement: UNSPECIFIED
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