Agricultural insurance shelters farmers in grain belts (3)

The Swiss Re report commended China's efforts to develop a robust agricultural insurance industry, saying the country's use of agricultural insurance as an incentive for expanding production sets a good example for other emerging markets that lack such a framework.

China is the second-largest agricultural insurance market in the world after the United States, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in December 2011.

However, Chinese farmers say the money paid by insurance companies is still not enough to offset their losses. Usually, insurance compensates only a portion of farmers' losses, like money spent on seeds and fertilizers.

"Compared with what I can get in a smooth harvest, the compensation is far from enough," said Zhang, the farmer.

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