Agriculture premiums show healthy growth

Insurance premium revenue from China's agricultural sector has grown at an average of 36 percent during 2007-2012, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The sector is the second-largest in the world after the United States.

The commission said from 2007 to 2012, premium revenue generated by China's agricultural sector grew from 5.18 billion yuan ($840 million) to 24 billion yuan, covering 183 million rural households nationwide.

Since 2008, the size of the country's agricultural insurance has passed that of Japan to be the second-largest in the world.

The commission said the farmland that participated in the insurance program has risen from 15.3 million hectares in 2007 to 64.6 million hectare in 2012. The area takes up 40 percent of China's farmland.