Coffee_Ins_Heat_Index

This repository houses a set of R scripts created to analyze and implement index insurance for coffee farmers in Colombia, using heat index data. Developed during a consultancy with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), this work aims to support risk management strategies for smallholder coffee growers. Last updated in 2016.

Context & Purpose

These scripts develop analytical methods to:

• Process and interpret temperature and climate data relevant to coffee-growing regions in Colombia
• Calculate heat-based index insurance parameters, such as threshold exceedance and payout triggers
• Visualize temporal patterns and risk levels via static or interactive plots
• Support data-informed insurance model design in agri-risk management

The goal: to help stakeholders design effective index-based insurance policies that respond to temperature-induced yield risks.

Repository Contents

This project comprises:

• scripts/: R scripts for data ingestion, heat index computation, threshold analysis, and visualization
• data/ (optional): input files (e.g., weather station data, climate grids), if included
• outputs/ (optional): generated charts, tables, summaries
• README.md: this introductory documentation

(Note: Directory names should match actual structure—adjust if needed.)

Requirements

• R (≥ 3.2)
• Recommended packages:
  • tidyverse (for data manipulation and plotting)
  • lubridate (for date/time processing)
  • lubridate or zoo (for rolling window calculations)
  • ggplot2 (visualizations)
  • sf or sp (if spatial data handling is included)
  • data.table (for efficient data processing)

Install within R:

install.packages(c("tidyverse", "lubridate", "ggplot2", "data.table", "sf"))