Q1

What benefits are there for farmers who join an “agricultural strategy coalition”?

Ans.

After Chinese Taipei ascended to the WTO, small farms have been challenged as they struggle to adjust to the new regime. Under it, prices of domestic agricultural products are relatively low, and it is difficult for agricultural policies to solve resultant problems. In order to reduce the impact of an open market and to integrate existing competitive strengths, core technologies and resources, we must construct an “agricultural protection network” and build a soft economic dyke by integrating resources and promote an “agricultural strategy coalition” to help solve imbalances, to stabilize prices, and thereby enhance the overall competitiveness of Taiwan’s agribusiness.

An “agricultural strategy coalition” pursues sustainable development and optimise the advantages of agriculture-specific production, life and ecology, and the core competitive capacity for creating value effectively. By demonstrating the synergy of the production-marketing strategy coalition and by using economies of scale, we can reduce production-marketing costs. We can cultivate emerging markets at home and abroad. Increased capacity through joint marketing resulting from forming a strategic coalition that can strengthen negotiating power when dealing with foreign countries, complete market segmentation effectively, and enhance product competitiveness. Forming an agricultural strategy promotion coalition improves the flow of information and eliminates vicious competition so that members can learn from one another. The coalition engenders mutual understanding, which begets sharing of valuable experiences.

Farmers are the indispensable basic component in the overall development of the sector, so it is necessary to establish an enterprise model based on modern production techniques because of the inevitable streamlined production-marketing scheme that results from joining WTO. It is especially true that by guiding farmers and farmer’s organizations toward establishing a “center/satellite” coalition, it can help to form an effective inter-organizational division of labor and cooperation and demonstrate the substantive advantages of strategic alliances and resource integration emphasized on promoting the “agricultural strategy coalition.” Therefore, an “agricultural strategy coalition” can make the production-marketing operation of farmers more efficient and product marketing more competitive.