During today's visit to a pomelo orchard in Tainan City's Madou District, Premier Lin Chuan pledged to support farmers who lost their crops in a destructive cold spell early this year.
"When crops are hurt by unseasonable weather, the government has an obligation to help farmers get through tough times," Premier Lin said. "The government will help minimize future losses by offering compensation, conducting research on stress-tolerant crops, improving farming facilities and devising a market adjustment mechanism."
Premier Lin said farmers in Madou have cultivated quality pomelo varieties that are resistant to extreme weather. He hoped the farmers would continue producing sweet, nutritious pomelos for people to enjoy.
Pomelo farms cover a total of 4,253 hectares in Taiwan, and harvest season falls during August and September. After the cold snap in January of this year, Tainan City reported about 40 percent damage to 738 hectares, sustaining total losses of NT$66 million (US$1.96 million). The pomelo farms in Madou accounted for 570 of the damaged hectares, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said.
To quickly bring production back to normal levels, the COA's agricultural research and extension stations have established service teams that help farmers with the recovery process and improve disaster prevention and crop fertilization capabilities.
Earlier asked by the press about the suspended communications between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, Premier Lin said he will continue to follow up on the matter and hoped that cross-strait affairs can be handled with empathy, mutual understanding and good will.