Comparison of Adopters' and Non-adopters' Characteristics among Pomegranate Orchard Owners in Natanz County

As agricultural sector is generally confrontedby economic and environmental threats, agricultural insurance has been considered as an appropriate mechanism to protect farmers against these threats.   The purpose of this study is to compare Adopters' and Non-adopters' characteristics among pomegranate orchard owners in Natanz County.   A survey technique was used as a research method.   Stratified random sampling was appliedto collect data from 250 farmers of Natanz County based on Cochran sampling formula.   Data was collected among 190 orchard owners who did not adopt and 60 orchard owners who did adopt insurance service.   A questionnaire was employed as a tool for gathering data the validity of which was confirmed by a group of professionals.   Also, a pilot study was conducted and Cronbach's alpha test was calculated to determine the data collection instrument reliability.   Findings revealed that there were significant differences between adopters and non-adopters of insurance services in relation to age; number of household’ work force; orchard workers experience; level of knowledge towards insurance advantages; attitude towards insurance fee; degree of risk aversion; main profession; degree of satisfaction towards received amount of loan; tonnage of pomegranate production; total amount of annual income; level of received information towards insurance.   According to discriminate analysis results, six independent variables could discriminate two groups of treatments.   "Insurance experience toward agricultural insurance" was the main discriminator in this regard.   Some recommendations have been presented to enhance adoption rate of agricultural insurance, based on research results.