On the other hand, some economists describe
catastrophic risks, including those related to agricultural crops, as uninsurable and
unsustainable in the long run as the transfer of losses from affected groups to the community
at large is not feasible at an affordable premium (e.g. Spaulding et al., 2003). Associated costs
of providing insurance outweigh the gains from risk spreading. Although practical
experiences and the empirical evidence are currently too limited to jump to a final conclusion
concerning such schemes, insurance as a mitigation strategy has not been very successful
based on standard commercial criteria throughout the world (Akter et al., 2009). Especially in
developing countries where the poorest parts of the population often find themselves in a
downward spiral of recurrent damages due to natural calamities, premiums for disaster
insurance schemes fail to earn enough revenues to cover payouts as well as administrative
implementation costs (e.g. Anderson 2001; Gurenko and Mahul 2004).