China to boost crop insurance

BEIJING -- China will intensify its efforts to promote crop insurance, with insured farm produce to cover 60 percent of the country's cultivated land by 2020, the country's top insurance regulator said on Monday.

The country will improve its crop insurance mechanism, especially services for the animal husbandry and planting sector, in a bid to guarantee food security, said Wang Zuji, deputy head of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Insurers will be encouraged to cover farm produce prices, rural houses and infrastructure, according to Wang.

The bureau is also mulling subsidies for insurers to promote agriculture-related business, he said.

China had 74 million hectares of crops insured last year, accounting for 45 percent of the country's seeded area. A total of 33.67 million rural households received combined compensation worth 20.9 billion yuan ($3.4 billion).