Taiwan - Establishment of a natural disaster insurance mechanism for crops

Issues and Objectives

In recent years, the intensity and frequency of natural disasters have increased. For example, Typhoon Meranti caused more than NT$2.1 billion in losses to agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and livestock across Taiwan. However, with the increased risks to agricultural production, relying solely on government-funded natural disaster relief is no longer sufficient to protect farmers' income and property.

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Improvement Measures Taken

To strengthen the remedies for agricultural losses following natural disasters, the Council of Agriculture (COA), in addition to initiating the first line of natural disaster relief and the second line of industry assistance measures, also planned a third line: agricultural disaster insurance. In this scheme, farmers bear a portion of the insurance premium, the central government subsidizes another portion of the premium, and local governments may offer additional premium subsidies. Through this crop natural disaster insurance, the aim is to diversify the risk of agricultural operations for farmers, thereby converting the uncertain annual expenditure for disaster relief into a fixed annual expense for premium subsidies.

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Results

Currently, insurance companies such as Hua Nan, Fubon, Mingtai, Shin Kong, Cathay, and Taiwan Property Insurance have launched related agricultural insurance products. The insured crops include: pomelo, rice, pineapple, mango, papaya, wax apple, banana, custard apple, and agricultural facilities. The products also provide protection against specific natural disasters (typhoons, wind speed, rainfall, low temperature, etc.), pests and diseases, or harvest shortages during the crop production process.

Taking pears as an example, Fubon Insurance launched the "Pear Crop Insurance Plan" (Figure 1), which includes information such as coverage, insured risks, supplementary insurance, and insured amount, and is linked to government disaster relief to increase the protection of farmers' agricultural production.

Image: Launch of the pear crop insurance program (Image source: References)

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References

https://www.boaf.gov.tw/site/boaf/public/Attachment/78179524971.pdf

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Reference Websites

1. 農糧署-農產業保險 https://www.afa.gov.tw/cht/index.php?code=list&ids=277
2. 富邦產險-農作物保險專區 https://www.fubon.com/insurance/b2c/content/farm_insurance/index.html
3. 國泰產險-芒果 https://www.cathay-ins.com.tw/insurance/product/186/
4. 農傳媒-分攤災損風險 https://www.agriharvest.tw/theme_data.php?theme=article&sub_theme=article&id=19

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