The program the Council of Agriculture (COA) began in 2013 to adjust the nation's farming system and reactivate farmland is already reaping results, Premier Jiang Yi-huah affirmed after the agency's briefing at today's political affairs meeting.
Thanks to the plan, fallow farmland has decreased by 88,000 hectares (ha) and expenses on converting fallow farmland have dropped by NT$2 billion (US$65.8 million) compared to 2011, and the overall industry production value has increased by NT$17.8 billion (US$586 million), Jiang said.
"ROC entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is an established policy to address the trend of global trade liberalization," the premier said. "The COA must quickly complete its preparatory work in response, including the adjustment of agricultural manpower and resources like farmland and water, and strengthen communication with farmers in order to decrease negative impact of these changes on Taiwan's agriculture. Farmers can even seize the opportunities liberalization presents, restructuring and upgrading their businesses by developing niche products in order to expand into the international market."
The COA's four-year plan aims to recultivate fallow farmland, raise food self-sufficiency and safeguard farming environments by encouraging the reactivation of land in order to plant crops that would replace imports, have export potential or display special regional characteristics. The program contributes to multiple policy objectives, encompassing the adjustment of the domestic industrial structure, raising agricultural production value, creating jobs and enlivening farms' prospects, stated the agency.
Currently the island's agricultural and livestock lands total approximately 800,000 ha, with around 370,000 ha suitable for planting rice and other grains. In 2004, approximately 240,000 ha of land laid fallow, and the government directly reimbursed its owners a total of NT$10.59 billion (US$353 million); as of 2008, fallow farmlands were estimated at 217,000 ha and the government directly paid NT$9.88 billion (US$329 million) in compensation.
Since the COA promoted the reactivation plan, however, fallow farmland had dropped to 112,000 ha as of December 2013, with the government paying only NT$5.18 billion (US$172.7 million) in reimbursement while subsidizing about NT3.11 billion (US$103.7 million) of conversion expenses, lowering the total amount of fallow land-related payments to NT$8.3 billion (US$276.7 million). These figures show land reactivation has been very successful, the agency affirmed.
Meanwhile, in line with the promotion of the Small Landlords, Big Tenant Farmers policy, small landlords numbered 25,724 and big tenant farmers 1,578 as of December 2013. On average, a small landlord operated a farm of 0.5 ha and a big tenant farmer, 8.4 ha. Moreover, big tenant farmers averaged 44 years of age, making them much younger than the typical Taiwanese farmer (whose average age is 62) and demonstrating that the agricultural labor structure is becoming more youthful.