for example premiums from agricultural producers mainly largescale rubber plantations and dairy operations make up only of revenue for the stateowned bao viet group tran c the high risk of natural disasters and epidemics mean that insurance premiums are quite high out of reach for many farm households at the same time insurance offers an attractive policy option for dealing with risk and thereby encouraging production to overcome this dilemma a threeyear pilot insurance programme was introduced in and provided through two stateowned insurance companies bao viet and bao minh the established insurance premium is subsidised by the government on a progressive scale for poor farming households for farming households just above the poverty line for other farming households and for agricultural production organisations