Looking After Pomelo Farmers: Yunlin County Government Subsidizes 10% of the Insurance Premium for Pomelo

The "Pomelo Insurance" was launched in March 2019 (ROC year 108) by the Council of Agriculture and Mingtai Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. Yunlin County was originally not a pilot area, but after Yunlin County actively proposed planning by the Agricultural Finance Bureau of the Council of Agriculture, in March 2020 (ROC year 109) the Council of Agriculture officially included Yunlin County as an insured area.

In order to look after pomelo farmers and reduce the burden of farmers' insurance premiums, Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan instructed the Agriculture Department to actively study the matter. In addition to referring to the premium subsidy ratios of other localities in the insured areas of Pomelo Insurance, and also taking into account Yunlin County's agricultural conditions and financial situation, it followed the practice of Tainan City, which has the largest pomelo planting area in the country, of subsidizing 10% of the insurance premium in the first stage, plus the 50% insurance premium subsidy from the Council of Agriculture (with a maximum amount of 30,000 yuan per hectare), to reduce the burden on farmers.

Magistrate Chang Li-shan stated that, in addition to pomelo insurance, the county government currently also subsidizes the insurance premiums for rice insurance, agricultural facility insurance and banana income insurance; moreover, in the future the Council of Agriculture and property insurance companies will successively plan and launch various crop insurance products such as banana plant insurance, garlic insurance, papaya insurance, groundnut insurance and pineapple insurance. In the future, the county government will assess Yunlin County's insurance participation and claims situations according to its financial situation, and conduct rolling reviews of the premium subsidy ratio based on the pilot results.

In addition to urging pomelo farmers to actively participate in the insurance, Magistrate Chang Li-shan has also instructed the Police Department to launch a pomelo protection project, strengthen patrols, and strictly guard against theft, so as to protect the pomelo farmers' hard work over the past year.