The key to solving the problem of Aquaculture Insurance: financial subsidy for catastrophe Relief

In recent years, Fujian, Zhejiang and other coastal areas have frequently encountered typhoons, red tides and other natural disasters, and fishery production has been hit hard. After the disaster, it is very difficult for fishermen to restore production only by relying on government assistance. Much attention has been paid to how to give full play to the function of mutual insurance and rely on the market to promote the steady development of fishery.

Aquaculture insurance can prevent fishermen from "poverty caused by disasters"

Since May, the coast of Fujian Province has entered a period of high incidence of red tide, and a large number of abalone and oysters have died. According to preliminary statistics, tens of thousands of fishermen have been affected in Lianjiang, Pingtan, Fuqing, Putian and other places.

The reporter interviewed the situation of production recovery after the disaster in Pingtan, Lianjiang and other hardest-hit areas and learned that due to the heavy losses caused by the disaster, many fishermen lost all their money and were unable to resume production. Zhuo Ronglan, a SuAo Town fisherman in Pingtan County, said that her family borrowed usury to raise abalone. They raised 50 baskets and more than 2000 cages, and invested more than 2 million yuan. Almost all of them died, and they could not get back a penny, not even the money to buy any more seedlings.

According to the Fujian Fisheries Mutual Insurance Association, at present, the national aquaculture insurance is basically blank, fishermen can only seek government disaster relief, can not get compensation from insurance companies.

Fujian is an area with high incidence of natural disasters. There are six or seven typhoons every year. In recent years, with the aggravation of environmental pollution, red tides also occur from time to time. Many affected fishermen hope to introduce aquaculture insurance to reduce the losses caused by the disaster. "We fishermen want to pay aquaculture insurance. If there is a disaster in this way, there will still be some subsidy. " Wei Kexing, a fisherman from Fenwei Village, Pingtan County, said.

Liu Jianxiong, general manager of the Ministry of Agriculture of China (Fujian) people's property Insurance Co., Ltd., said that aquaculture insurance can at least give affected fishermen money to purchase equipment, seedlings, etc., have the ability to restore reproduction, and prevent them from "causing poverty as a result of disasters." However, due to the strong dependence of aquaculture on the natural environment, the existence of catastrophe risk and other reasons, the domestic aquaculture insurance market has formed a situation that insurance institutions dare not protect, and aquaculture farmers can not afford high premiums.

Four difficulties cause "dystocia" of aquaculture insurance

According to the reporter's understanding, the current implementation of aquaculture insurance is mainly faced with four major difficulties. "Aquaculture has a weak ability to withstand all kinds of natural disasters and there is a risk of catastrophe." Zhang Junan, deputy secretary general of Fujian Fisheries Mutual Insurance Association, said, "there have been more and more extreme weather in recent years, such as Laver farming in Fuding City. There have been two disasters in the past four years, and they are all catastrophes."

Liu Jianxiong said that fishermen do have a demand for aquaculture insurance, but insurance companies have been afraid to do so, mainly because the risk of aquaculture is too high. Aquaculture is an industry with high investment, high return and high risk, which is much higher than the average agricultural risk.

Aquaculture is highly professional, and it is difficult to determine the stock and value of aquaculture products, as well as the inspection and damage determination after getting out of danger, so that insurance companies do not dare to "test the water" easily. "Aquaculture is in the sea, and the quantity is very difficult to control, unlike rice and breeding sows, which are easy to determine. After getting out of danger, it is also difficult to determine the size of the loss." Li Jiansheng, associate professor of aquaculture at the School of Animal Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, said: "it is difficult to say whether the cause of the loss is natural disasters or artificial reasons such as excessive breeding density and improper feeding."

Another reason for the difficulty of aquaculture insurance is that aquaculture people do not have a strong awareness of insurance and their ability to pay premiums is limited. "the fishermen's sense of insurance is weak, and they have a gambling mentality. They have been in danger for four or five years, so it will be more difficult for them to pay again." Wang Jianqiao, a staff member of the underwriting department of Fujian Fisheries Mutual Insurance Association, said that aquaculture insurance is risky and the premium rate is relatively high.

Wang Jianqiao said that at a rate of 5%, it means that if all insurance is paid once in 20 years, all premiums will be reimbursed, not including the cost of work. In general, the scale value of fishermen is 20 to 300000 yuan. According to 5% calculation, they have to pay an insurance premium of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. They also think that it is too expensive.

Financial subsidy may solve the problem of aquaculture insurance.

The reporter learned that the introduction of aquaculture insurance as soon as possible has become a consensus of all parties. Responsible persons of relevant departments and experts believe that aquaculture insurance needs a reasonable rate for the introduction and sustainable development of aquaculture insurance, but according to estimates, fishermen cannot afford it and must get government policy support and financial subsidies in order to develop healthily. "at present, government support at all levels for agricultural insurance such as rice and breeding sows accounts for 70% to 80%. For example, rice insurance farmers only need to pay 2.4 yuan per mu per year." Zhang Junan said, "if the government can subsidize 50% to 60% of aquaculture insurance and the financial burden of fishermen is relatively light, it will be easier to find a balance between fishermen and insurance companies."

Lin Feng, director of the Agriculture Department of the Fujian Provincial Finance Department, said that Fujian Province is a major province of aquaculture, and it is necessary to introduce aquaculture insurance in order to protect the interests of fishermen. It is suggested that all levels of finance should jointly contribute funds and give premium subsidies.

It is understood that South Korea, Japan and other countries have relatively mature aquaculture insurance. Relevant people suggest that our country can first carry out pilot projects within a certain range, from easy to difficult, and choose areas with better risk control, more mature aquaculture, more standardized, and more integrated areas.

People concerned believe that in addition to giving insurance subsidies, the government should also establish a catastrophe relief mechanism and set up a "catastrophe risk reserve". In the event of a minor disaster, it can be completely paid by the insurance company. In the event of a catastrophe, in addition to the insurance company to pay, but also need the government to provide disaster relief.