China will release a "policy agricultural insurance regulation" this year to further extend the scope of agricultural insurance, said Zhou Yanli, vice-chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Zhou said that more than 41 million hectares of crops were lost or affected last year due to natural disasters. Meanwhile, China's current agricultural insurance system is not sound enough, so many farmers need better security for medical treatment or after retirement.

Zhou added farmers could make use of all kinds of agricultural insurance to get insurance premiums.

Zhou emphasized the China Insurance Regulatory Commission will make more efforts to ensure all farmers have access to agricultural insurance.

(CRIEnglish.com April 2, 2007)