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PurposeThe study analyses the preference for forestry insurance amongst tree growers in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Specifically, the authors examine the factors influencing the amount of forestry insurance and the choice for forestry insurance types.Design/methodology/approachA total of one hundred and seventy (170) tree growers were sampled for the study. The tobit model, multi-nomial regression and Kendall's tau were employed to analyse the factors affecting the amount for forestry insurance, the choice for forestry insurance types and the perils to forest quality, respectively.FindingsThe results of the study indicate that the incidence of bush fire and theft were the key perils that affect forest quality. In total, 52.94% of respondents preferred forest plantation fire insurance as named-peril insurance whereas 70.59% preferred a combination of forest plantation fire, windstorm and consequential loss insurance as multi-peril insurance. The majority (89.4%) of the respondents were willing to pay an amount between Ghc 10.00–49.00 (US$ 2–8) per stand. On the one hand, results of the tobit model reveal age, income, experience in forest management, land ownership and the previous occurrence of fire as the factors affecting the amount for forestry insurance. On the other hand, the multi-nomial results indicate the previous occurrence of fire, gender, forest size, income and risk aversion significantly influenced the choice for forestry insurance types, namely named peril and multi-peril.Originality/valueSeveral studies exist for forestry insurance in the developed countries. However, in West Africa specifically, Ghana, studies on forestry insurance appear to be non-existent. Above and beyond, this study, therefore, adds to the paucity of research on forestry insurance in Ghana and serves as a framework for agricultural insurance institutions such as the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) and World cover and other agricultural insurance institutions globally.

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Financial literacy has been described as an important a mix of knowledge, skill and attitude of individuals, households and even whole nations towards financial matters. It helps to make informed financial decisions, thereby ensuring financial stability, vis-à-vis, economic well-being of the decision maker. Globally, studies in the area of financial literacy have been conducted with the aim of measuring the level of financial literacy of respondents. The results of most of these studies have brought to the fore the poor level of financial literacy among even educated people. The present study evaluates the financial literacy of 562 tomato farmers randomly sampled from three key tomato growing regions in Ghana. Their financial literacy level was evaluated based on their opinions on five basic financial information regularly asked questions by OECD’s International Network on Financial Education. To ascertain the level of agreement among the respondents in their rankings of the financial literacy items, Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (Kendall’s W) was estimated. A ranking analysis of the respondents’ responses on the basic financial information indicated that “It is important that one should have a regular savings plan” was ranked as the most important information on financial literacy. Finally, by means of a binary logistic regression, the study went further to determine the tomato farmers’ view on this all-important financial management tool premised on the fact that they viewed financial literacy as important to them thus availing themselves for financial literacy programmes to enhance their financial skills. The results of the binary logistic regression indicate that income diversification significantly influenced a farmer’s view of financial literacy being important whilst farm size and years of education had negative but significant relationship on their view. The study has therefore confirmed the lack of interest of financial literacy among rural households particularly due to their low level of education.