Research on Ningxia Agricultural Insurance Supporting Development of Goji Berry Industry

Zhang Jing,Zhang E'e

(1.Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information Technology,Ningxia Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences,Yinchuan,Ningxia 750002;2.Human Resources Department of Ningxia Branch of New China Life Insurance Co.,Ltd.,Yinchuan,Ningxia 750001)

Abstract:Agricultural insurance is an important risk management method to ensure the smooth progress of agricultural production.Therefore, vigorously developing agricultural insurance plays an important role in stabilizing and promoting the development of agriculture as well as rural economy and society.This paper aims at the key problems that need to be solved urgently in the agricultural insurance of Ningxia goji berry industry,and systematically expounds some countermeasures and suggestions that should be taken to promote the development of goji berry industry in Ningxia in the process of developing agricultural insurance,so as to provide a useful references for the policy support system of the development of agricultural insurance in goji berry industry in Ningxia.

Keywords: agricultural insurance;goji industry in Ningxia;existing problems

As a method of transferring risks and making up for losses caused to agricultural producers and operators due to disasters in the process of agricultural production,agricultural insurance is an important risk control tool to ensure the smooth progress of agricultural production and operation and also a major component of the national economic compensation measures for agriculture and rural areas.Judging from the current economic development situation in our region, agricultural insurance has already covered three major categories:aquaculture, planting and forestry, and fruit industries, which has effectively guaranteed the development of Ningxia's primary industry.However,goji berry industry,one of the characteristic industries in Ningxia,still has many problems in the process of implementing the agricultural insurance policy due to the low income,high risk of natural disasters and high factors in payout ratio.The ways to give full play to the leading role of the government in policy insurance,gradually establish and perfect a standardized and orderly long-term mechanism of agricultural insurance with a wide coverage,effectively prevent and resolve the difficulties and risks faced by the goji berry industry in production and operation, and ensure that farmers can be compensated in time for the losses suffered by disasters are major issues that governments at all levels urgently solve in order to speed up the development of advantageous industries with agricultural characteristics in Ningxia.

I.Major Issues of Agricultural Insurance in Development of Goji Berry Industry

(i)Lacking of Self-protection in Agricultural Insurance of Goji Berry Industry

At present, the development of agricultural insurance in goji berry industry in Ningxia is still relatively slower than that in other provinces(as well as municipalities directly under the Central Government,autonomous regions),which is though related to the maturity of the local agricultural insurance market,and the root cause is the lack of strong guarantee in the development of agricultural insurance in goji berry industry in Ningxia.On the one hand,there are differences between agricultural insurance and commercial insurance in terms of business objectives.Agricultural insurance households have low ability to pay premiums.If commercial operation is implemented,they will not only bear natural risks,but also bear market risks,so the“double risks”make agricultural insurance face double pressures.Therefore, the commercial operation of agricultural insurance on a trial basis should compensate for many risks existing in the agricultural production and operation process with higher insurance premiums.However,due to the fact that China's agricultural insurance rate is uniformly set by the government and belongs to the type of insurance with low insurance premiums and high insurance premiums;the controllability in the actual operation process is not flexible.Therefore, the predicament of high insurance premiums,reluctance of farmers to purchase,low insurance premiums and inability of insurance companies to maintain will often occur.For example,judging from the insurance needs of goji berry farmers in Zhongning County in Ningxia, their awareness of participating in agricultural insurance in fact is not very strong.Farmers always think that the premium per mu is relatively high; sometimes it seems that the loss outweighs the gain,so they are not willing to buy it.At the same time,most farmers still have the lucky mentality to the occurrence of agricultural natural disasters.Some farmers who have bought agricultural insurance,for example,will take it for granted that they have entered the “safe zone”, and their awareness of taking the initiative to prevent and reduce disasters will decrease and relax.They will adopt a laissez-faire and lax negative attitude towards goji berry farming activities,which will lead to the occurrence of moral risks and adverse selection in the economic sense.This has virtually increased the frequency of disasters in the goji berry planting process,resulting in an increase in the amount of compensation paid by insurance companies,heavy burden and unprofitable.As a result,the agricultural insurance of goji berry industry in Ningxia has no situation that banks are willing to accept.

On the other hand,agricultural insurance lacks reinsurance risk mechanism.Policies and regulations on risk prevention and control of agricultural insurance in goji berry industry are not perfect in Ningxia.The existing regulations and systems only make some principled provisions,while there is no clear wording on the establishment of primary insurance institutions, supervision of fund management, compensation coordination, litigation handling,definition of rights and responsibilities of various government departments, and lack of technical specifications in the implementation of the plan and actual operation.A series of problems,such as expenses for insurance agencies,subsidies,claims complaints, etc., seriously affect the orderly development of agricultural insurance.

(ii) Undiversified Funding Source for Agricultural Insurance of Goji Berry Industry

At present,the goji berry industry in Ningxia has a relatively single source of agricultural insurance funds,and the main source of which is the premium paid by farmers,but the insurance rate of agricultural insurance approved by the current insurance regulatory authority is still relatively high to the agricultural income of insured farmers.For example,in the actual payment of the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry, farmers pay insurance premiums to insurance companies,but in reality,as long as goji berry farming suffers from a natural disaster of frost or hail,insurance companies need to pay high damages to farmers,so insurance companies are under great pressure.So it is obvious that funding is the primary problem restricting the development of agricultural insurance.If the insurance premium is too high,farmers will not be willing to take out insurance.Otherwise if the insurance premium is too low,the insurance company will lose money in years with more natural disasters,and there will be no profit.The development of agricultural insurance faces a dilemma.It can be said that the road is hard and the task is arduous.

(iii) Strong Dependence on Policies in Agricultural Insurance of Goji Berry Industry

With the support of national policies and through market-oriented operation,the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry has made great progress in recent years,and has also given birth to some agricultural insurance management institutions willing to underwrite the goji berry industry.These management institutions have gradually become the main body of the development and management of the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry.However,in practice,due to the influence of various systems and operation mechanisms,the agricultural insurance management institutions of the goji berry industry rely too much on preferential policies formulated and promulgated by relevant state departments and local governments.Some agricultural insurance enterprises regard insurance business as the completion of tasks assigned by local governments,with low enthusiasm,weak initiative and lack of market awareness.They want to rely more on some supporting policies of the state or local governments to make profits.

(iv) Imperfect Internal Management for Agricultural Insurance of Goji Berry Industry

Judging from the general environment, the internal management mechanism of the agricultural insurance in Chinese goji berry industry is not perfect,which makes the development process of China's agricultural insurance tortuous and slow.Agricultural insurance began to develop rapidly in 2007.Like other provinces in the country,Ningxia's internal management mechanism of agricultural insurance is not perfect,and the management level is not high enough.Major operating agencies lack experience in management and some enterprises have unsound internal management mechanism,which to some extent restricts the development of the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry.At the same time, the risk control ability and level of relevant insurance institutions are weak,and there are not enough and comprehensive considerations in some major disaster insurance.Some enterprises lack the strategic awareness of agricultural insurance development,and even have short-term behaviors,resulting in quick premium collection and difficult claims settlement.Insurance farmers sometimes cannot receive timely claims,thus affecting farmers'trust in agricultural insurance and seriously affecting the further development of agricultural insurance business.

(v) Lacking of Technical Personnel in Agricultural Insurance of Goji Berry Industry

Agricultural insurance is a kind of professional and effective type of insurance,which requires the staff engaged in the business not only to master the insurance management technology, but also to extensively dabble in agricultural technology knowledge because the objects of agricultural insurance are living animals and plants,and the price changes with the growth.For example,the original records and statistical materials are difficult to collect,which brings great difficulties to determine the insurance rate.In order to accurately estimate the degree of loss,predict the future output and quality of products and the market price of products in the future,people need not only scientific and effective calculation and professional technology,but also a group of specialized and professional technical personnel in agricultural insurance.But at present,like other provinces and autonomous regions in the country,Ningxia is facing the problem of shortage of agricultural insurance talents.People who know about insurance do not know about agriculture,and people who know about agriculture do not know about insurance.At the beginning of the implementation of agricultural insurance, agricultural insurance was also at the edge of property insurance.Young talents engaged in agricultural insurance-related professions did not see any hope or prospect and were not enthusiastic about their work.

II.Countermeasures and Suggestions for Agricultural Insurance of Goji Berry Industry

(i) Strengthening Agricultural Legislation in Local Laws and Regulations on Agricultural Insurance

From the development of agricultural insurance in Ningxia in recent years,it can be seen that the development of agricultural insurance in goji berry industry is facing deep-seated problems and contradictions.Disputes caused by agricultural insurance occur from time to time and risks are constantly expanding.This shows that agricultural insurance,as an indemnificatory system to promote agricultural development,has a strong dependence on laws.Only by standardizing and preventing relevant laws and system construction, can the central and local governments ensure the steady and orderly development of agricultural insurance.To this end,government departments at all levels should systematically study and formulate local laws and regulations suitable for the local agricultural insurance in the light of the actual situation in Ningxia,and clarify the functions and functions that governments at all levels should play in carrying out agricultural insurance in the form of laws.First of all,the government should give preferential policies in the process of ensuring the smooth progress of the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry.Secondly,it should give insured farmers a certain amount of premium subsidies.Finally, it should consider the operating costs of insurance companies.While giving insurance companies corresponding support policies,Ningxia can also consider a certain proportion of compensation.At the same time,it is necessary to clearly divide the rights and obligations of the management entities,the insured entities and the relevant government departments in agricultural insurance,so as to avoid or reduce the contradictions and disputes in the process of survey and claim settlement,thus fully ensuring and supporting the steady development of agricultural insurance[1].

(ii) Adopting Differential Financial Subsidy Policy of Agricultural Insurance

In the United States,Japan and other countries,huge financial support is provided for agricultural insurance and all taxes are reduced.Therefore,China should also promote agricultural insurance as a livelihood project benefiting the people and the people, as a safeguard measure to promote the healthy and steady development of agriculture,increase the financial sector's support for the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry and give premium subsidies to insured farmers, so as to mobilize the willingness of the majority of farmers to take out insurance to a certain extent.At present,the central government subsidies for agricultural insurance premiums,especially for the agricultural insurance premiums in goji berry industry, are relatively weak,and the proportion of local financial subsidies for the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry is relatively low,which directly leads to the slow development of the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry in Ningxia.Therefore,it is suggested that the central government should increase the subsidy ratio of agricultural insurance and cancel the matching of city and county financial premium subsidies with obvious advantages in characteristic industries.For example,Zhongning County,Ningxia,is the birthplace and authentic origin of goji berry in the world.Canceling the matching of city and county financial premium subsidies plays an important role in relieving the pressure on local finance.Local finance can take this opportunity to expand and develop the coverage of the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry, thus better protecting and improving the quality of goji berry and increasing the income of farmers.On the other hand, premium subsidies will be given to industries with unique advantages to increase farmers'enthusiasm to participate in agricultural insurance.The government's financial subsidy for agricultural insurance can be considered in the form of differential.Although the types and coverage of agricultural insurance are gradually increasing,there are still great limitations,limiting the needs of some farmers who dare to rely on agricultural insurance and innovate boldly.Differential insurance financial subsidies can effectively prevent too low a subsidy standard from being difficult to stimulate farmers'effective demand,improve the insurance rate,and avoid the government falling into a heavy financial burden due to too high a subsidy standard.

(iii)Conducting Vigorous publicity for Farmers'Awareness of Insurance

On the one hand,governments at all levels should actively take effective publicity measures and means to establish and perfect the risk education system,and adopt various publicity methods such as entering villages and households, serving in the countryside,and centralized training,so as to enable more farmers to understand and master the knowledge of agricultural insurance, continuously enhance farmers'awareness of risk prevention,and further expand the coverage of agricultural insurance.On the other hand,through the form of training courses for village and township cadres, the government should increase the professional training for grassroots cadres in agricultural insurance,and raise the awareness of grassroots staff of their responsibility to face risks.It should take targeted disaster events as the starting point and focus point,take the lead to go deep into the fields through grassroots cadres, and use easy-to-understand publicity methods to impart insurance products to farmers,so as to make the masses aware of the special attribute of agricultural insurance of“one family for one family”[2],and improve their ability to resist disasters by purchasing the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry.At the same time,insurance companies should also take corresponding measures,such as setting up branches of insurance companies in Zhongning County, where goji characteristic agricultural industries are concentrated, to comprehensively publicize and promote the development of agricultural insurance through face-to-face and point-to-point.

(iv) Establishing Catastrophe Loss Fund of Agricultural Insurance for Internal Management System

The so-called catastrophe loss refers to the extraordinary compensation loss that the insurance company bears in excess of a certain standard in a risk accident.Chinese agricultural insurance has a high temporal and spatial correlation with natural disasters.Its nature is not the same as ordinary personal insurance and commercial insurance.People cannot learn from ordinary insurance and start the reserve fund as soon as there is an accident.At the call of the government,Ningxia should quantify the catastrophe risk conditions.At the same time,taking the government as the main body,it should collect the catastrophe loss fund of agricultural insurance from the whole society in a large scale.In case of catastrophe,people should compensate those who meet the catastrophe risk quantification conditions.At the same time,insurance companies can also get corresponding compensation from the catastrophe fund.In addition,Ningxia should actively improve the internal management system,strengthen the internal supervision and control system,and carry out top - down, phased and segmented comprehensive supervision[3].

(v) Government Subsidizes on Operating Expenses of Insurance Companies

With the rapid development of the economy,the government should implement a management fee subsidy system for major crop insurance related to the national economy and the people's livelihood.Local governments should increase subsidies for agricultural insurance management fees for characteristic advantageous industries and brand and characteristic advantageous industries such as Ningxia goji berry industry according to the development advantages of local crops.In order to ensure the reasonable,legal and effective use of the subsidy,the government should directly allocate the payable premium subsidy to the insured agricultural insurance institutions according to the relevant regulations of the insurance management fee subsidy system and the actual situation of farmers'insurance.In a certain sense,the insurance management fee subsidy is also a subsidy to the insurance institutions[4].The central government can provide necessary financial support through special transfer payments according to the actual situation of the development of agricultural insurance business in Ningxia.

(vi) Raising Subsidy Standards for a Risk Transfer and Allocation Mechanism

The government should increase its support for agricultural insurance and increase the supply of agricultural insurance effectively and reasonably,which is of great importance to effectively promote the development of agricultural insurance and ensure and stabilize the economic income of farmers.In the United States,more than 50%of the premium for crop insurance is borne by the government.The Japanese government sets premium subsidies according to different crops,up to 70%.Under the existing conditions in Ningxia,it is suggested that the government should subsidize 80%of the premium,the insured should bear 20%,the insurance rate of goji berry is 6%,and the insurance amount is 1500 yuan/mu.Thus,the 18 yuan of the premium per mu is calculated.At the same time,a risk reserve fund for the agricultural insurance in goji berry industry will be established.The fund consists of 10%of the annual premium income of agricultural insurance and the operating profit of agricultural insurance.In case of major disasters, the government shall be responsible for the compensation if the compensation exceeds the agricultural insurance risk reserve.At the same time,actively strive for the support of the central government,increase subsidies,support and implement the financial subsidy policy of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,establish and improve the risk transfer and allocation mechanism, and effectively play the dual role of the government and the market.

(vii) Focusing on Training of Agricultural Insurance Personnel for Security Level

At present,how to train a group of young and professional agricultural insurance personnel is an important problem that insurance companies are facing and need to solve as soon as possible.Cultivating a group of compound talents who understand both agricultural economy and agricultural insurance is an effective way to promote the healthy and rapid development of agricultural insurance.First of all,Ningxia should improve the welfare of the staff engaged in agricultural insurance,give some material subsidies to those who have been engaged in agricultural insurance for a long time at the grassroots level,and provide economic guarantee for their work so as to improve their working enthusiasm.Secondly, combined with the characteristics and current situation of agricultural insurance talents and the actual problems of agricultural insurance enterprises and universities,it should be considered by the Ministry of Education of China to setup more professional insurance subjects in agricultural universities or universities,and put forward some ideas to speed up the training of agricultural insurance talents and specific countermeasures for universities to train agricultural insurance talents,so as to effectively train a group of agricultural insurance talents meeting the market demand.

Agricultural insurance is the government's policy of benefiting the people by doing everything possible to help farmers transfer risks.It is also an auxiliary tool to ensure national food security and realize large-scale rural management and agricultural modernization.Governments at all levels,insurance regulatory bureaus and insurance companies in Ningxia should go into the fields to carry out on-the-spot investigations,find out the major problems existing in the process of putting Ningxia's agricultural insurance into practice,and take corresponding measures according to local conditions,so as to promote the steady development of Ningxia's agricultural insurance.