China to hike subsidies for agricultural insurance premiums

Subsidies will be provided to crop-growing farmers who buy full-cost insurance or income insurance.

The Chinese government will increase its subsidies for agricultural insurance premiums, according to a report by China News Service, citing a Ministry of Finance official.

Subsidies will be provided to crop-growing farmers who buy full-cost insurance or income insurance. Full-cost insurance covers various costs of agricultural production, such as seeds, land and labour, and losses from natural disasters; whilst income insurance covers losses due to price and output fluctuations.

The application scope will also be expanded to cover 500 counties with high crop yields in 13 major grain-producing provinces this year, including Sichuan, Liaoning, and Jiangxi.

The central and local governments will hike fiscal subsidies toward premiums for the expanded insurance pilot, the report said. 

Provincial governments will pay no lower than 25%; whilst 45% of premiums will be from the central government's budget for China's central, western, and northeastern regions.

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