The consultants will work together with the national forestry economist to assess the options of introducing and designing an agricultural insurance mechanism in the Project. Specifically, they will: (i) Coordinate with the agricultural insurance specialists working on TA7027-PRC: Strengthening the Capacity of Sanmenxia Municipality Government in Strategic Planning and Management, and review international practices and products on agriculture insurance. (ii) Review domestic insurance regulations and legislative procedures for agriculture insurance as well as existing practices and designs in the PRC and the Jiangxi Province on agriculture insurance; and summarize the experiences and lessons learned including discussions with the insurance industry, governments, and farmers associations and/or groups. (iii) Analyze the legislative and institutional feasibility for agriculture insurance in the project area and provide policy recommendations. (iv) Assess participating enterprises' and farmers' affordability and willingness to pay for the proposed agricultural insurance (a) conducting necessary surveys including developing the survey framework (e.g., stratification, randomization, etc.) and questionnaire; (b) managing the survey progress; (c) analyzing the data; and (d) assessing the affordability and desirability toward the proposed insurance mechanisms from the participating enterprises' and farmers' perspectives. (v) Prepare a set of designs for agriculture insurance in the project area in close consultation with insurance industry, the local governments, and the participating enterprises and farmers. (vi) Assess these design options in terms of their feasibility, sustainability, and practicality given the local institutional setup; and estimate the costs of the insurance industry's providing and managing agriculture insurance of different designs in the project area. (vii) Provide recommendations to and assist EA to pilot-test the design in the project area. | 