With the aims of adjusting the structure of the rice industry and increasing the supply of domestically produced mixed staple crops, starting in 2018 the COA promoted the “Plan for Direct Payments on Farmland” nationwide. The direct payments system includes incentives for farmers to grow competitive crops such as import substitution, export-oriented, and main-point development crops under contract. We also implemented the “two-track system” of offering both “direct payments on farmland” and “guaranteed prices purchasing.” The COA moreover implements production environment maintenance measures once a year, guides farmers to plant the right crop in the right location, and promotes sustainable development of agriculture.

The COA began implementing a two-track system of “direct payments on farmland” for rice farms and “guaranteed prices purchasing” of rice on a trial basis in the second crop season of 2016. The aim was to encourage farmers to produce high-quality rice and sell it on the open market by offering them the choice to collect a direct payment on the area of land farmed instead of selling their rice to public stocks. After three crop seasons of trial implementation, the majority of farmers showed a willingness to participate in the direct payments plan, so the plan was implemented nationwide starting in 2018. It was hoped that the direct payments system would induce farmers and operators in Specialized Rice Production and Marketing Zones to produce, under contract, high-quality rice that meets market demand, and from there change the attitude of “emphasizing quantity over quality.” In 2018 farmers applied to collect direct payments on 53,338 hectares of land, accounting for 31% of the 171,513 hectares of the approved rice-growing area. Through direct payments the COA has taken preliminary steps toward reducing the dependence of farmers on the guaranteed prices purchasing system.

In 2018, a total of 137,547 hectares of land were farmed under the contract system, an increase of 3.3% compared to 2017. The main crops behind the increase were soybeans and flint corn (both being import-substitution crops) and main-point development crops with special local characteristics, thereby increasing the supply of domestically produced mixed staple crops. In addition, we conducted measures for the maintenance of the production environment (including cultivation of green manure or scenic plants and plowing of the soil) on 76,846 hectares of land, building a stable and rational cultivation model that has one crop season of cultivation and another crop season of production-environment maintenance.

Looking generally at the results of implementation of these policies in 2018, besides promoting rational use of farmland, there were also benefits for farmers growing high-quality rice and mixed staple crops, while the COA also guided rice farmers to switch over to incentivized crops and raise the quality of rice on the market.

In addition, in 2018 the Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station of the COA, in coordination with promotion of the Plan for Direct Payments on Farmland, undertook propagation of seeds needed for cultivation of mixed staple crops grown under contract (including soybeans, flint corn, forage corn, wheat, and sorghum) as well as for green manure (for production environment maintenance) and promoted the cultivation of green manure on 57,000 hectares of land.