China's agricultural insurance up 6.2 pct in 2014

China's agricultural insurance pocketed 32.57 billion yuan (5.29 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, an increase of 6.2 percent year on year, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission on Wednesday.

The number of insured farms reached 247 million, up 15.71 percent year on year, according to a statement on the commission's website.

Over 1.5 billion mu (100 million hectares) of crops were covered, accounting for 61.6 percent of the nation's total.

Corn, rice and wheat recorded high insurance coverage rates of 69.5 percent, 68.7 percent and 49.3 percent respectively.

Agriculture insurance in China has seen rapid growth since a subsidy program was piloted in 2007. Following the success of the project, the Ministry of Finance allocated 12.69 billion yuan to subsidize agricultural insurance in 2013.

Initially on trial in six provincial regions, involving five planting species, the program was rolled out across the country from July 2014, and 15 plant species, as well as livestock breeding and the forestry sector are now covered.

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission, and the ministries of finance and agriculture vowed to further improve agricultural insurance by increasing coverage and reviewing the items. Endi