Determinants of Tree Growers' Preferences for Forest Insurance in Mufindi District, Tanzania
Abstract
Private tree growers play a key role in sustainable wood supply and rural livelihoods, but face high vulnerability to natural disasters, fire, pests, and diseases. These hazards threaten incomes, market access, and forest productivity, yet research and policies addressing their specific risk management needs remain little known, creating a critical gap in enhancing their resilience and sustainability. This study analyses the factors influencing the decision of the tree growers to purchase forest insurance. One hundred twenty tree growers were sampled in four villages using a multistage sampling technique. Results show that 76.7% of the respondents were willing to pay for forest insurance on an annual premium payment basis. A binary logistic regression was used to analyse factors influencing willingness to pay for forest insurance. Results showed the extent of exposure to modern education, experience in tree planting, total income, and size of the forest significantly (Omnibus test value for model fitness 45.7659, p-value=0.000). Also, the multinomial logit model was used to analyse factors influencing the choice of insurance type, and results show that sex, income, experience in tree growing, previous occurrence of fire, tree species planted, and location of the farm have statistical significance. These insights also inform extension service agents and other forest stakeholders on how to tailor sensitisation and training programs. By focusing on the factors that most influence adoption, extension efforts can better address knowledge gaps, highlight the economic value of insurance, and build trust in the policy, ultimately increasing uptake among tree growers
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