China's agricultural catastrophe insurance operation is not yet mature

[ China Agricultural Machinery Industry News ] On June 21, a 3,000-acre garden in Tongzhaipu Town, Tanghe County, Nanyang, Henan Province was devastated by the sudden 8th-level gusts of wind and heavy rain and hail. The female boss wanted to cry without tears and suffered heavy losses. Because there is no corresponding insurance in the local area, it is said that the lotus is not a crop, it is a cash crop, the insurance is fruitless and the guarantee is nowhere to fall. The loss can only be borne by the growers, and the fragility of agriculture is exposed at this time. Huge investment returns to zero in an instant, and the hope of harvesting is lost at this moment. Everything returns to the original point, the risk prevention and control mechanism is zero, and agricultural growers can only "remember the fate of life."

China's agricultural catastrophe insurance operation is not yet mature

Such a situation clearly does not meet the "people-oriented" and "agricultural-based" advocacy, and does not help to increase the enthusiasm of farmers and agricultural growers. The basic position of agriculture is strong. However, the ability of agriculture to resist risks is very weak. Due to the influence of seasons and supply and demand, there is too much uncertainty in agricultural breeding, and it is difficult to obtain basic guarantees for benefits.

In foreign countries, agricultural insurance has a wide coverage, strong policy, and very mature operation. It has become a powerful umbrella for agriculture to face the dual test of market and weather. Among them, there is a government-led type, represented by the United States and Canada; there is a private insurance mutual association model, represented by Japan, and its main feature is that it is highly policy-oriented, and it adopts legislation to mainly affect the national economy and people's livelihood and the crops that have a greater impact on farmers' income. There is a statutory insurance for livestock; there is a preferential policy model, represented by Western European countries, mainly including France, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries. There is also a national key selective support model represented by developing countries in Asia.

No matter which type, the commonality lies in the policy guidance and cultivation, and the adoption of slightly mandatory measures, and under the leadership and guidance of the government, the establishment of multi-participation, risk sharing, and benefit-sharing agriculture. The insurance system has achieved the guarantee of insurance, solved the worries of agricultural growers, and provided basic guarantees for weather risks and market risks, so as to avoid the fear of huge losses.

In China, the introduction and popularization of agricultural insurance is still at the primary level. First, the scope of protection is very limited. In important grain varieties such as rice, wheat and corn, other economic or non-food varieties are often excluded. The reason is that the current insurance launch has only traditional thinking, but it has not been advancing with the times, and has been optimized and adjusted in structure. Second, the system construction of agricultural insurance is still not perfect, and the degree of government-led and market-consistency is not enough. The risk-sharing mechanism has not yet been established, and the lack of a more unified top-level design, the interest orientation is not clear, the definition of responsibility is unclear, and the enthusiasm for participation is not high.

Since 2014, the US agricultural insurance subsidy has become the second largest agricultural support project, accounting for 8% of the total agricultural expenditure, and China is about 3.69%, the gap is quite obvious. According to Chen Wenhui, vice chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, in 2015, agricultural insurance covered 1.45 billion mu of crops, and 189 varieties of insured crops accounted for 59% of the country's planted area. The average coverage of the three staple crops exceeded 70%, which is close to developed countries. Level. Although the results are significant, it still needs to catch up. For example, from the insurance of garlic in Shandong in 2015, and the failure of the female boss to insure the lotus three years ago, it also indicates that agricultural insurance should not be missed. Grasping big but not small, whether it is insurance coverage or insurance coverage, it should be "no vacuum", otherwise it will be a heavy loss to the agricultural growers after each storm.

For the weak agriculture, the participation of commercial insurance can be said to be a charcoal in the snow. This will not only reduce the substantial losses of farmers, protect their enthusiasm from being affected, but also enable the government to do more to benefit the three rural areas. Agricultural modernization is the premise of agricultural insurance, and agricultural insurance is a necessary condition and an important support for agricultural modernization. Agriculture must have a great future and progress. To truly realize modernization, there can be no more tears after "sudden nights". Agricultural catastrophe insurance is the key to preventing agricultural risks. Hainan’s pilot has undoubtedly opened a good start and is an inevitable choice to avoid similar tragedies.