The Council of Agriculture is making efforts recently to gain a solid grasp on agricultural production information. The products which COA asked for the information are as follows:

• The important crop Products;
• The important Seafood Products; and
•  The important Livestock Products.

The Council expects with these measures’ to gain production information to achieve balance in resource allocation, price stabilization, and to protect farmers’ profit margins and therefore appeals with these policies to the farming and fishery community to conduct their registration eagerly during the period of production.

We understand that the market-oriented agricultural production often leads to production imbalance and thus that it is important to know more about the to area of production and output information for government to take measures to tackle this situation. Therefore, we deem to promote this reporting system for a limited important products. It shall apply to seven crops: banana, orange, papaya, pineapple, garlic, onion and peanut; six seafood products: milkfish, tilapia, eel, bass, grouper and clam; and four livestock products: pork, chicken, Taiwan native chicken, and eggs. If needed, COA shall select other agricultural products, after thoroughly evaluation to apply this registration system so that corporation measures can be taken at early stage to deal with the overproduction problem of this product.

Farmers and fishmen who comply with the measures outlined in the above-mentioned policies shall have priority with assistance in future production and marketing aid programs. The Council will stand on the reported area and quantity and related precautionary information and maintain control of product information in a timely manner. When a production surplus is anticipated, the Council will implement output reduction measures which include destroy parts of the planting acreage for crop, reduce the cultivating density for fishes and, weed out inferior newborn stocks or breeding superior stocks for livestock. If the price of products is closed to the direct production costs at harvest period, COA, after thoroughly evaluation, consider, there is a risk of unbalance of supply and demand carrying out adjustment measures through promotion, purchasing and storage and processing to stabilize the price. If product prices are lower than 95% of direct production costs, the Council will implement the price stabilization system purchases the products from the farmers who cooperated and register. The purchase price will be 95% an average of the previous five-year direct production costs excluding the highest and lowest yearly costs.

Those who have not followed the registration system, has submitted the rice to government stock, has received the subsidy for set-aside program, rent the lands from Taiwan Sugar Corporation for crop in production or the products produces from Taiwan sugar Co. land, shouldn’t ask to be purchased by the Council. Someone who hasn’t proceed the registration, when the assistance will be needed, the Council could purchase, however, the purchase price will be only 65% of the production cost.

The COA has already convened more than 20 guidance meetings inviting individual county, municipal, township, city and district government officials, as well as agricultural, fishiery, and livestock industries; producers to participate also has printed leaflets; has paid for the announcements on TV; and rented propaganda cars to make announcements. All the information has been uploaded on all related websites for everyone’s reference. In addition, for the convenience of the producers to registrate, the Council has contracted with Feng Chia University, Chinese Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (CSPRS), National Animal Industry Foundation to develop independent information operating systems standing on the characters of industries in order to accelerate the efficiency of the system. The reporting of each important agricultural product has continually started. In oder to ensure their personal right, the Council of Agriculture appeals to the farmers who produce important agricultural products to registrate at their township offices or related industrial associations with the copy of land ownership certificate, or the copy of operation authorization contract or the copy of lease contract to protect their right.