Correctly understanding agricultural insurance: farmers' willingness to participate has increased year by year
Agricultural insurance is a "green box" policy that the WTO allows countries to use to support agriculture. It is one of the three pillars of modern agricultural development under market economy conditions, and also an important tool for transferring agricultural risks. China began establishing a policy-based agricultural insurance system in 2004 and carried out pilot programs. In 2007, the central government began providing premium subsidies for agricultural insurance, and in 2012 China promulgated the "Regulations on Agricultural Insurance." At present, the scale of China's agricultural insurance ranks second in the world. Recently, the Insurance Society of China released the "China Agricultural Insurance Market Demand Survey Report." Our newspaper reporter interviewed Yao Qinghai, president of the Insurance Society of China, about this.
Farmers' willingness to participate has increased year by year
Reporter: When major disasters occur, agricultural insurance plays a positive role in restoring production. So how enthusiastic are farmers about participating at present, and what measures are there to encourage farmers to participate in agricultural insurance?
Yao Qinghai: In major disasters such as the 2009 Northeast drought, the 2012 Beijing floods, and the 2013 Heilongjiang catastrophic floods, agricultural insurance effectively diversified the operational risks of the vast number of farmers. Participating farmers received tangible benefits, their understanding of agricultural insurance became better and better, and their willingness to participate increased year by year. The number of insured farmers and the insured area have shown a trend of increasing year by year.
⟦NL> At present, the main measures to encourage farmers to participate are as follows: First, raise the level of protection. Raise the existing insured amount to close to or basically close to the actual planting cost, and gradually include land rent cost and labor cost in the protection level. At the same time, while actively offering crop planting cost insurance, actively offer new types of insurance such as yield insurance and price index insurance. Second, expand the coverage of agricultural insurance. In addition to offering insurance for major grain and oil crops, major livestock products, and forests with central government premium subsidies, vigorously develop products such as housing, agricultural machinery and tools, and facility agriculture. Third, broaden the service scope. Extend agricultural insurance into the rural financial sector and actively promote the combination of agricultural insurance with rural financial instruments such as agriculture-related credit.
Insurance companies entrust agricultural departments to assist in handling specific agricultural insurance business
Reporter: Agricultural insurance involves multiple links such as designing products, participating, paying premiums, loss assessment, and compensation. So government departments involve agricultural departments, insurance regulatory departments, and financial departments, while the main actors also include farmers, farmers' professional cooperatives, leading enterprises, and insurance companies. What kind of cooperation mechanism can ensure the smooth implementation of agricultural insurance projects?
Yao Qinghai: In terms of organizational structure, the "Regulations on Agricultural Insurance" clearly stipulate the construction of the agricultural insurance system. Specifically, it includes: "The insurance regulatory authority of the State Council supervises and manages agricultural insurance business. Relevant departments of the State Council such as finance, agriculture, forestry, development and reform, taxation, and civil affairs are responsible for related work in advancing and managing agricultural insurance according to their respective duties. Relevant departments and institutions such as finance, insurance supervision and management, land and resources, agriculture, forestry, and meteorology shall establish a sharing mechanism for information related to agricultural insurance. Local people's governments at or above the county level shall uniformly lead, organize, and coordinate agricultural insurance work in their administrative regions and establish and improve working mechanisms to advance the development of agricultural insurance."
In terms of business operations, in view of the scattered subjects of agricultural insurance and the relatively low degree of farmer organization, insurance companies generally entrust local agricultural departments to assist in handling business such as underwriting and premium collection, disaster reporting, survey and loss assessment, and claims payment for agricultural insurance. According to the contract agreed by both parties, the insurance company pays them a certain proportion of assistance fees.
Reporter: Can individual farmers purchase agricultural insurance on their own? What points should be noted?
Yao Qinghai: For family farms and specialized large households, individual farmers can directly insure with local insurance companies. For other farmers, the village committee generally serves as the insurance organizing body and organizes local farmers to insure. When insuring, farmers should note the following aspects:
First, pay the insurance premium to village cadres according to the insured area; second, provide a bank card (book) number for later disaster claims; third, review the insurance information and sign on the "Insurance Details Form" to confirm; fourth, keep the insurance policy or insurance certificate issued by the insurance company.
The number of planted and bred varieties covered by agricultural insurance reaches 15, with central government subsidies covering the whole country
Reporter: How many varieties are currently covered by agricultural insurance, and how strong is the central government's subsidy?
Yao Qinghai: At present, the varieties for which the central government provides agricultural insurance premium subsidies include corn, rice, wheat, cotton, potatoes, oil crops, sugar crops, breeding sows, dairy cows, fattening pigs, natural rubber, forests, highland barley, Tibetan sheep, yaks, and so on, 15 in total. For crop insurance, the central government subsidizes 40% for the central and western regions, 35% for the eastern region, and 65% for the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, reclamation areas directly under the central government, Sinograin Northern Company, and China Agricultural Development Group Corporation (hereinafter referred to as central units), with provincial-level finance subsidizing at least 25%. For insurance for breeding sows, dairy cows, and fattening pigs, the central government subsidizes 50% for the central and western regions, 40% for the eastern region, and 80% for central units, with local finance subsidizing at least 30%. For public welfare forest insurance, the central government subsidizes 50%, and 90% for the Daxing'anling Forestry Group Corporation, with local finance subsidizing at least 40%. For commercial forest insurance, the central government subsidizes 30%, and 55% for the Daxing'anling Forestry Group Corporation, with local finance subsidizing at least 25%. The central government's agricultural insurance premium subsidy policy covers the whole country, and local areas may act independently.
Reporter: The state financial premium subsidy is part of the national policy to strengthen agriculture and benefit farmers, but it is also directly allocated to insurance companies. How can the effective and fair use of fiscal funds be ensured?
Yao Qinghai: Premium subsidies from finance at all levels, national and local, are premium subsidies for participating farmers, not subsidies to insurance companies. Their purpose is to reduce the premium burden on participating farmers. To ensure the effective use of premium subsidy funds, the Ministry of Finance issued the "Measures for the Administration of Central Government Premium Subsidies for Crop Insurance" and the "Measures for the Administration of Central Government Premium Subsidies for Breeding Insurance," which clearly stipulate the budgeting, allocation, and management of premium subsidy funds. Every year, local agricultural insurance regulatory departments inspect the management of premium subsidy funds in accordance with relevant regulations.
Public announcement, return visits, and "zero cash" compensation ensure fairness in loss assessment while also preventing insurance fraud
Reporter: In insurance claims, a very important link is loss assessment. So in the process of agricultural insurance, is there a mechanism to guarantee the fairness of loss assessment while also preventing insurance fraud?
Yao Qinghai: To prevent false underwriting and false claims, the main systems currently implemented are public announcement, return visits, and the "zero cash" compensation payment system. On the one hand, after survey and loss assessment work is completed and before compensation is paid, the insurance public announcement must disclose each participating farmer's claim results, including the farmer's name, insured area, disaster-affected area, degree of loss, compensation amount, and other information, in a prominent position in the village for more than 7 days. This mobilizes the vast number of farmers to supervise each other and promptly handle issues reported by farmers. On the other hand, after claims work is completed, according to relevant regulations of the regulatory authorities, insurance companies conduct telephone and household return visits for a certain proportion of claimant farmers, and through return visits discover and resolve problems in claims. On another hand, insurance companies adopt the "zero cash" method and transfer compensation into the passbook (card) of participating disaster-affected farmers, thereby effectively avoiding problems such as interception, misappropriation, and embezzlement of compensation.