Policy for implementation of Index Based Weather Insurance revisited: the case of Nicaragua

International development organisations, through partnerships with local insurance companies, have been promoting weather index based insurance (WIBI) in developing countries. Due to lower operational costs, they expect shorter pay-off period, often overlooking high initial design costs. Experiences however show high post-pilot mortality of these programmes. Literatures report lack of insurance participation. We propose lack of push from insurance providers as an additional factor. To verify, cash flows of a Nicaraguan groundnut based WIBI and a comparable but hypothetical named peril insurance are simulated against 80 scenarios. Additionally, a test of stochastic dominance of their estimated Net Present Values show that WIBI take comparatively longer to pay-off yielding lower returns with considerable risk. WIBI, given its advantages is undoubtedly an efficient agricultural risk management tool. Therefore, to make it sustainable, long-term pilots and technical assistance is required until the product pays-off and yield profits for insurance providers.