2005-09-20 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Lu Chia-ying

To ensure that the quality and safety of Taiwanese farm products in overseas markets is improved, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged farmers and fishermen to endorse the establishment of crop production profiling, which he sees as integral to differentiating local products from those of China and Southeast Asian countries.

"Quality and safety have been key factors for competition in modern agriculture," Chen said, speaking at a training program for executives of farmers' and fishermen's associations, "whereas price was the key requirement for competition in traditional agriculture."

The crop production profile system referred to by Chen will provide details of farm products' information to consumers in order to ensure farm-to-table safety.

President Chen contended that as both Japan and the European Union had already implemented crop production profiling, local farmers and fishermen should follow suit in to better the quality of Taiwan's farm products.

Benefits

Furthermore, he reminded his audience that, by 2010, Japan plans to ban the import of all farm products which do not properly document their production processes.

"As Japan is the largest export market for Taiwan's farm products, we must make best preparation (for the new rule)," Chen said. "As long as we accomplish the crop production profile system, we will not only improve the quality of Taiwan's agriculture but also differentiate our products from those coming from China and even Southeast Asia," the president said, adding that this would serve as vital step toward improving Taiwan's competitiveness in global farm produce markets.

The Council of Agriculture initiated a sample program in 2004 that profiled 74 agricultural products, including organic rice and several kinds of vegetables, to help purchasers get transparent information on individual products.

The president said he understood that building a system is often an arduous and difficult process, "but this is a path that Taiwan must walk to transform and upgrade its agriculture."

Chen said he is confident in the future development of Taiwan's agriculture, especially after seeing the story of Lin Lung-hsing, grower of this year's "champion rice."

An aboriginal rice farmer in Chihshang, Taitung County, Chen dubbed Lin as "a minority among the minorities." But Lin worked very hard and ingeniously to improve his crop, Chen said, so that he won this year's championship and earned NT$11,000 per kilogram of his crop, whereas regular rice goes for about NT$30 for one kilogram.

Seeking support

The president urged farmers and fishermen to assist the government in institutionalizing the production profile system for every farm product by following the instructions of the COA and local farmers' and fishermen's association to better Taiwan's agricultural competitiveness.

Not all of the president's remarks focussed in them positive, as Chen called on farmers not to repeat the alleged actions of a minority of fish farmers who are suspected of using a banned chemical to raise grouper fish. The deed could damage a whole industry, which raised more than 13,000 tons of the high-quality fish, annual sales of which yield approximately NT$2.75 billion, the president warned.

He also asked the COA to get to the bottom of the reported violations and ferret out the suspects to prevent them from further damaging Taiwan's fish farming industry.

"We can never allow a few people's illegal acts to cause major damage to the law-abiding majority," the president said.