Determinants of Participation in Life Insurance Scheme by Artisanal Fishermen: A Case of Ghana

Aims: This study investigates the determinants of participation in life insurance scheme by artisanal fishermen in Ghana.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study design was employed in this study. Field surveys, interviews, questionnaires (semi-structured mostly closed) were employed in the gathering of data on socio-economic characteristics, canoe characteristics, attitude at sea, assets, income, type of insurance, willingness to participate in insurance schemes, emergency coping mechanism and disasters encountered.

Location and Place of Study: The study was undertaken in some selected communities from four (4) Coastal regions (Great Accra, Volta, Central and Western) and the Inland areas bordering the Volta Lake (Yeji, Abotoase and Kpando). These areas are the major fishing areas in Ghana.

Methodology: The authors employed descriptive statistics and logit model to analyze the data. Three hundred and eighty-six (386) canoe owners and 164 crew from four (4) coastal regions and the Inland Lake Region were sampled.

Results and Discussion: The study observed that most canoe owners and crew members are willing to participate (WTP) in group life, personal life, family insurance, fishing gears and pension schemes. This is an indication that there is a potential for such scheme for the sector. The factors that most strongly affect WTP for group insurance of crew are family size, number of dependants, experience of fishing, listening to weather forecast before going fishing and ownership of a house.

Conclusion and Recommendation: It is evident from the study that majority of respondents are willing to participate in the various insurance schemes including group and life. Delay in payment of claims is a major reason why some canoe owners and fishermen will not enroll in the scheme. The logit model shows that family size, number of dependants, experience, weather and ownership of a house significantly influence willingness to participate in fishermen group life insurance scheme. The study recommends the intensification of awareness creation among the fishermen on the insurance scheme through meetings, workshops, conferences and seminars between the industries in the design of suitable insurance needs of the fishermen. Telecommunication service providers should be brought on board to develop insurance packages for the sector since a high number of the fishermen own mobile phones and pay for recharge.