This dissertation studies the introduction of insurance and microinsurance schemes that cover agricultural produce in Bolivia. Partly due to climate change, agricultural disasters have become more frequent in this country. One coping strategy of peasants has been the adoption of insurance instruments. Insurance has also become part of the national government’s strategy for the rural sector. This development is linked to the evolution of microinsurance at a worldwide scale, i.e. insurance products that are specifically designed for the low-income market. Microinsurances usually require a premium payment, but might be (partly) subsidized. The research question of this study is mainly inspired by social security and welfare state research and relates to writings about microinsurance: How does the arrival of agricultural microinsurance transform social security production in Bolivia? In particular, does it represent a boost for market-based social security production (at the detriment of other forms of social security) and in which sense? The research perspective focuses on the question if evolving agricultural microinsurance schemes in Bolivia embody a particular division of responsibilities, including organizational and financial responsibilities. This perspective draws on concepts pertaining to the sociology of risk, among others. In connection with this, the study also looks at the question how the evolving division of responsibilities relates to local social protection strategies and perceptions and, at least partly as a result, to the impact of the schemes. Three different schemes are studied in detail in the empirical part: 1) the Fondo de Transferencia de Riesgos (FTR), which covered from 2009 until 2014 grape production in the department of Tarija; 2) the composite VidaAgrícola, which was offered in 2011 and 2012 to potato and maize producers in the department of Tarija; 3) the SAMEP / Pirwa scheme, which the national government created in 2012/13. Methodologically, this research relies on a multi-sited ethnography, including four field stays in Bolivia (November 2010, April-July 2011, October-December 2011, January 2013). Until this date, the agricultural microinsurance landscape of Bolivia remains very patchy, both in terms of reach and payout sums. The limited number of agricultural microinsurance and insurance products has mainly reached producers specialized in high-value cash crops. This study shows that the introduction of agricultural microinsurance in Bolivia cannot be considered as real boost to market-based welfare production, at least not to this date. Rather, in one and the same context, microinsurance has been used in very different ways that range from market mechanism to public cash transfer: On the one hand, it has taken the form of commercial schemes, implemented in part with the help of the state (market expansion). On the other hand, agricultural microinsurance has taken the form of a fully subsidized cash transfer (bono) organized by the government in order to support vulnerable citizens. By creating new entitlements for those citizens who are considered as historically disadvantaged, the government has assumed responsibilities that are not part of its “traditional” role in welfare production. This means that the opposite of a shift from state to market-based social security production can be observed. At the same time, the microinsurance schemes which were studied here do not necessarily imply the destruction of other institutions of social security, in particular state or community-based support. In addition, this research studies if forward-looking and risk-averse subjectivities, which form part of theories of neoliberal governmentality, become more important as microinsurance is introduced in Bolivia. The actors involved in microinsurance creation aimed to create an “insurance culture” through financial education. However, there is a notable gap between these ideas (including “prudent subjectivities”) and the reactions of producers. As previously described by others, neoliberal governmentality remained a partial and unstable process. The outlook of this dissertation explores the possibility that in the future the introduction of agricultural microinsurance could represent a boost for market-based social security: this is still a possible outcome in the longer run.
