China is to formulate supportive policies to push forward agricultural insurance and encourage insurance companies to provide better services in rural areas, said sources with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

Last year, the state insurance watchdog received 47 suggestions from representatives of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and 41 proposals from deputies to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body.

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Agricultural insurance drew most attention from these representatives and deputies.

They believed China should strengthen the role of agricultural insurance as a social stabilizer and encourage commercial insurance companies to join hand with the government in building the rural cooperative medical care system.

Their proposals also included boosting the development of agricultural insurance market, developing liability insurance in environmental protection and catering sectors, and establishing a medical malpractice insurance system.

The CIRC said it improved last year the trial operation of agricultural insurance initiated in 2004 in Shanghai, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan.

These regions contributed 78 percent of last year's total premium income from agricultural insurance, which was 846 million yuan (108.46 million U.S. dollars), up 16 percent from the previous year.

There were 160 agricultural insurance products on the market last year, covering farmers' household properties and planting and breeding industries.

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