Regarding the effects that promoting value-added agriculture in the Free Economic Pilot Zone may have on Taiwan's agriculture, the Council of Agriculture said that it hopes to expand current projects and create new opportunities for Taiwan's agriculture, thus paving new paths for the industry. In other words, the new value-added agriculture creates a brand-new investment environment which may bring out new demands for agriculture, enlarge the products' market, and turn traditional agriculture production into new-value-chain agriculture. Therefore this creates a win-win situation for agri-businesses and farmers.

Value-added agriculture is not merely agricultural product processing, nor is only value-added agricultural products

Value-added agriculture policy does not merely focus on agricultural, fishery and livestock produce processing. High added value and market potential products are also a priority. In the initial phase of promotion, selective industries include aquarium fish and its supporting industries, agricultural biotechnology (animal vaccine), among others. In the future, pet food and health supplement would all be included as well. These industries have already made an extensive link to the traditional production agriculture, opening up new fields for innovative value chain. For instance, the Taiwanese aquarium fish industry not only excels in aquaculture techniques but also integrates supporting industries such as fish tank design. Therefore, interdisciplinary added value can boost products' demand and also create new industries.

Value-added Agriculture is to expand farming scale and create possibilities

Scholars estimated that currently 37% of the total agricultural production value in Taiwan (approximately NT$170 billion) is from food processing. From demand's perspective, 30% of the total food processing production value belongs to domestically produced raw materials, which means if the food processing industry raises its production value to NT$10 billion, there would be a NT$3 billion domestic market demand for agricultural products, thus perfectly illustrating the "expand scale" policy. For instance, the filling of pineapple cakes is made of locally grown pineapple fruit, which in turn increases greatly its production volume and contractual price. The filling with authentic local pineapple flavor offers a genuine and irreplaceable taste, which makes Taiwan's agricultural potential hard to be ignored.

In the Value-added Agricultural Pilot Zone, the use of both domestic and foreign materials is permitted to create products that suit specific demands of different overseas markets, enabling the business sectors to fully benefit from advanced processing technology in Taiwan and develop brand new markets, thus reaching the goal of "create new possibilities" policy. For example, instead of competing with current industries, the outstanding sorghum liquor brewing industry in Taiwan creates a new demand market by importing materials to produce quality liquor.

Many manufacturing countries of world famous processed agricultural products, such as Switzerland (Lindt Chocolate) and Japan (UCC Coffee), do not produce raw materials for those products. Yet they still manage to create world famous brands and consumers have never stopped purchasing those products just because they are not made of materials produced locally. It is simply impractical to regulate the percentage of domestic material content in a product.

How can local pineapple cakes not contain Taiwan's pineapple? Do not underestimate Taiwan's agricultural strengths!

Although agricultural products can be substituted, their flavor can still be affected by variations in places of production, varieties, and cultivation techniques. Therefore, when choosing primary raw materials, manufacturers always take into consideration the combination of ingredients in the recipe in order to give their products a unique characteristic. For instance, the pineapple cakes use local pineapples as fillings and create a new type of consumer demand. Moreover, some companies even plan to make pastry fillings for export using Taiwan's pineapple and taro. This reveals that locally produced materials still possess their uniqueness and are irreplaceable. In short, Taiwan's food processing industry can work together with agricultural sectors to create a win-win situation. The speculation that foreign materials will someday replace domestic materials is absolutely improbable.

Controlled processed products will be destined entirely for export without possibility of entering the domestic market

All controlled products processed in the pilot zone must to be exported. Even if the final product is not listed as a controlled product, it should still comply with import regulation codes and pay necessary taxes before being granted access into the domestic market in order to avoid disturbing domestic market. In case of the peanut butter, most of this product are directly imported from abroad. Only a small percent of domestically produced peanuts are used to make peanut butter. Therefore in the future, if the peanuts were processed in the pilot zone and allowed into domestic market, they would replace their imported counterparts and have no significant impact on local peanut farmers.

Not giving it a try will only lead to treading in the same place

There is always risk behind new policies. However, new ways and approaches to improvement would never be found out if attempts and trials were not carried out. The agriculture authorities, both central and local, cannot ignore the trend of liberalization, and the project "Value-added Agriculture in Free Economic Pilot Zone" aims to implement value-added agriculture policy and explore a new path for Taiwan's agriculture. Before Taiwan joins the TPP to open up its market, the economic pilot zone can serve as a retaining wall safeguarding local industries while increasing competitiveness to those potential industries. In the mean time, the government definitively will not ignore its responsibility towards Taiwan's agriculture. It will thoroughly evaluate and cautiously adjust relevant course of action. Furthermore, it would strive for the most favorable conditions for agriculture in future bilateral or multilateral negotiations.