The Council of Agriculture (COA) announced at the year-end press conference on Dec. 29 the establishment of new agricultural value chains as its new policy direction for 2013. In the face of challenges such as increased economic and trade liberalization, climate changes and food security, Taiwan’s agriculture has to change its strategy of being mainly defensive to that of innovation and being active, and transform its traditional thinking of only focusing on production, noted the COA.

Based on the major policy objective of “Golden Decade — LOHAS Agriculture,” the Council has formulated several important programs to restructure the nation’s agricultural industry and strengthen its competitiveness, including establishing agricultural cloud services, adjusting the farming system to revitalize fallow land, creating water-conserving agricultural corridors, and cultivating young agricultural operators. In the future, the COA will strengthen interdisciplinary integration and value-added innovation so as to establish new agricultural value chains.

Fruitful agricultural achievements in 2012 show strength of Taiwan’s agriculture

The COA also reported the following major agricultural achievements in 2012: annual output of quality agriculture totaled NT$134.5 billion, growing 8.5% and 44% as compared with 2011 and 2008 respectively; agricultural exports were valued at US$5.08 billion, an 8.8% increase over 2011; Taiwan’s flowers continued to attract international attention by winning another gold medal at the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show in Britain; the project of exporting breeding pigs to Vietnam opened the opportunity for excellent Taiwan breeding pigs to gain a foothold in Southeast Asia; the output value of ornamental fish and peripheral industries increased 100% as compared with 2009; and foreigners made 213,857 visits to Taiwan for leisure agricultural activities due to the government’s active promotion in the international community, increasing 28% over 2011.

Since agriculture is closely related to people’s health and life, the COA expanded in 2012 the implementation of a comprehensive produce traceability system, the finalization of a domestic beef traceability system, and the provision of nutritious lunches with organic vegetables to 50,000 elementary and junior high school students once a week. The number of students benefitting from the Council’s healthy luncheon scheme will increase to 360,000 in 2013.

Interdisciplinary integration and value-added innovation to gain momentum

Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji said that in the face of economic and trade liberalization, the COA will promote the export of quality agricultural products, advanced technology and raw materials by extending and expanding the agricultural value chain through interdisciplinary integration, while simultaneously using agricultural cloud services to upgrade management efficiency, strengthen food safety via digital food clouds, and attract young people to become new-generation agricultural operators in order to establish a younger, more vigorous LOHAS agriculture with higher competitiveness. The Council’s priority policies in 2013 include:

1. Adjusting strategies in response to economic and trade liberalization

By replacing "production-oriented agriculture" with the strategic thinking of "agricultural value chains," the COA will assist farmers in creating brand names and developing large, competition-style industries, establishing agricultural industry clusters based on the concept of value chains, planning value-added processing and distribution centers, and organizing the establishment of an agricultural science and technology research institute to accelerate the development of new agricultural machinery and techniques. For instance, through the extension and integration of industry-wide value chains, Taiwanese exports of down feathers now rank third in the world, a fact that reflects how Taiwan-produced down is quickly garnering international recognition.

Meanwhile, the Council will combine industry development to facilitate rural revitalization, promote local consumption of domestic agricultural products, create small but beautiful industries with special features, and capture the high-end market of boutique industries and creative value-added cultural markets such as linking healthy, fashionable tea with tea cuisine, tea art and tea set manufacturing.

In response to the international trend of greater liberalization, the COA will also properly budget for the agricultural income support system, revise related laws and regulations, and obtain budgets for agricultural structure adjustment and compensate for the damages that will be caused by increased imports, in order to minimize the impact on Taiwanese farmers after signing free trade agreements or joining TPP, and form a strategic alliance with other countries to achieve the goal of expanding exports and global deployment through international trade.

2. Establishing agricultural cloud services

As cloud technology development continues, the COA will establish the integrated agricultural cloud services system and cloud systems for agricultural production, marketing, leisure and food, and utilize GPS digital positioning to obtain photographed evidence so as to improve the efficiency of agricultural disaster surveys. The Council will create in 2013 the farmers' smart card for trial application on measures such as providing machine gasoline and fertilizer subsidies at the initial stage. Farm production and various agricultural information operations will then be integrated into the smart card system step by step for the government to obtain timely agricultural production and marketing information and to provide farmers with diversified services.

3. Pushing for agricultural structure upgrades and the injection of new manpower

The COA programs to adjust the farming system and revitalize farmland as well as promote water-conserving agricultural corridors will make the utilization of agricultural resources more efficient and spur agricultural economic momentum. The total area of revitalized fallow land is expected to increase 45,000 hectares by 2016 as compared with 2011, boosting the overall output and benefits by NT$8.8 billion and creating job opportunities for 100,000 people. The program to cultivate young agricultural operators starting in 2013 will provide them with comprehensive assistance, including farming techniques at the initial stage, and then professional operation and management consulting services, as well as assistance with regard to obtaining farmland and necessary funds.