Crop Insurance as a Risk Management Strategy in Bangladesh

than ten times, while the global population has increased by a factor of 2.4. It is estimated
that the costs associated with crop damaging weather events are doubling each decade.
Figure 3.4: Change in agricultural production expected under future climatic changes (IPCC
AR4, 2007)
The scientific community is not unanimous in attributing the increases in extreme weather
events to global warming. However, there is a strong body of opinion which holds that this is
the case. Their thesis is that global warming means more energy in the system. A
consequence of this is a rise in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events. As
shown in Figure 3.5, historically the frequency of extreme climatic event has increased
significantly over the period 1900-2000. From the figures it is also evident that South Asia,
especially Bangladesh use to be one of the most affected regions with high frequency of
extreme events.
Figure 3.5: Changing nature and structure of global disaster events
Sources: OFDA / Center for Research in the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) Intl. database of
Disasters
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