Satisfaction Levels of Insured Apricot Producers towards Agricultural Insurance Services

The objective of this research was to assess satisfaction levels of the insured farmers towards TARSİM agricultural insurance services. The study was conducted on the farmers engaged in apricot production in Malatya province of Turkey, the world’s largest provider of apricots. About 69.88% of Turkey’s dried apricot production and about 73.44% of the world dried apricot production are based in Malatya. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a random sample of 187 farmers. Likert scale questionnaires were used to collect opinion data of farmers on five dimensions, namely sales and marketing, damage compensation, pricing and payment policy, customer notification and customer representation. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the association between the measured variables and overall satisfaction levels. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that all dimensions had statistically significant effects on farmer satisfaction. Additionally, according to the standard estimations, satisfaction from sales and marketing, satisfaction from customer notification and satisfaction from damage compensation were the most significant determinants of customer satisfaction. Pricing and payment policy had the lowest influence on farmer satisfaction. The study results showed that efficient and rapid resolution of farmer problems and grant of ease for premium payments were the most influential factors affecting farmer satisfaction.