Agriculture Risk Management and Farmer’s Perception

Abstract

Farmers in all parts of the world deal with numerous threats to their businesses. As a result, agricultural businesses are becoming increasingly vulnerable, and farmers are being compelled to make changes to their production and management practices in order to survive. Here, we share the findings of a PRISMA-compliant systematic literature review on how farmers think about and react to agricultural risks. We used a data reduction technique (factor analysis) and descriptive statistics to examine 197 studies and found that farmers' most pressing concerns about their agricultural businesses are related to the weather (55%), biosecurity threats (48%), and human risk (35%). Farmers' top choices for mitigating risk in their agricultural operations were increasing production diversity (28%) and keeping an eye out for pests and diseases (20%). Few studies have looked into the social and economic contexts that either explain farmers' risk perceptions (18%) or influence their risk management practices (11%). In developing nations especially, a lack of resources, including information and formal low-interest loan systems, prevented farmers from effectively managing agricultural risks. We found a disconnect between the perceived origins of risks and the methods used to mitigate them, highlighting the need to better comprehend the rationale behind the management choices made in response to the various risks. In order to better understand the risks that farmers face and to aid in efforts to mitigate them, this review suggests avenues for additional study.