The Council of Agriculture (COA) has announced that the Taiwan International Agricultural Development Company (TIADC), on July 6, applied and received approval to invest in  Pingtung Agricultural Biotechology Park (PABP) of the COA. It is anticipated that the TIADC will rent three hectares of land to build an “International Freshness Logistics Center” that conforms to international norms and standards and that includes packaging, processing, organization, transport and sale of agriproducts. It will provide a complete series of services from grading, handling, packaging to freshness preservation for Taiwan agriproducts. Meanwhile, it will enhance its  competitive advantage in custom processing by combining the warehousing, inspection and quarantine, and testing services of PABP, to become the best partner for farmers to develop international markets, and to substancially strengthen the export competitiveness of Taiwan agriproducts.

　　The COA has pointed out that the TIADC will invite domestic business people, government officials, and academics, as well as foreign experts, to assist in planning, in order to construct  the “International Freshness Logistics Center” that complies with international norms and standards of cleaning, extending freshness, complete grading and selection, and  cold chain packaging of agriproducts . In the early stages, the main products will be pineapple and bananas. The center will assist domestic farmers and export firms to undertake post-harvest handling of agriproducts, using high-standard handling and packaging methods to create a superior image for the Taiwan products. It will further bring together the customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, and export advantages of the PABP to export to Japan and other new markets. Afterwards, conforming to the COA’s “New Agriculture” policy goal, it will help toorganize the production-and-marketing capabilities of industrial clusters and agribusinesses in PABP to construct a model mechanism for value-added  Taiwan agribusinesses, to assist in adjusting the production-and-marketing supply chain, to improve the quality of supplied products, and to construct complete domestic and overseas sales channels, and play the role of “navigator” to lead Taiwan agriculture to advance into international markets.

　　The COA states that PABP was established by the COA to lead the way in greater use of technology, in industrialization, and in internationalization for Taiwan agriculture. PABP provides firms that invest there with comprehensive software and hardware facilities, as well as one-stop, fast and convenient administrative services, warehousing, inspection and quarantine, and examining services that offer full customs support all along the line for imports and exports. Since opening in December of 2006, PABP now owns 233 hectares of land area of which over 90% has been leased by investing firms. It has succeeded in attracting over 100 agribusinesses forming industrial clusters that include Natural Products, Aqua Breeding, Husbandry Materials & Animal Health, Agro-Bio Materials, Biotechnical Service, and Energy-Saving & Ecological Agro-Production System. The products manufactured in PABP are sold in over 30 countries in the world. In recent days PABP has received approval from the Executive Yuan for an expansion plan, and it is anticipated that the 165.41 hectare expansion project will be completed by the end of 2019. Along with other construction such as multi-functional warehousing zone and multi-functional services zone (including the industrial talents training center for agro-biotechnology), PABP will create an agribusiness cluster of over 180 firms. Therefore, this investment by the TIADC in PABP has significance as an indicator for Taiwan’s global innovative agribusinesses industrial cluster. In the future the TIADC’s “International Freshness Logistics Center” and a great number of the agribusinesses in PABP will have the responsibility of being important promoters for Taiwan farmers and agriproducts in developing international markets, in strengthening the competitiveness of Taiwan agriproducts, and in driving substantial export business opportunities.