(1) The Agricultural Adaptation Programme on Climate Change

Following global economic development and the overconsumption of fuel energy and natural resources, global warming and climate change have been steadily getting more severe. Taiwan is of a subtropical marine climate, with high risk. We have already seen changes with regard to warming and rainfall, the rising of the sea level, changes in ocean currents and sea surface temperature, and more frequent occurrences and increased severity of extreme weather, all of which impact agricultural production and biodiversity.

With respect to the important issue of climate change, the Paris Agreement has entered into force worldwide, and around the globe there have been pro-active steps taken to strengthen adaptability and reduce the fragility of the environment and ecologies. The “Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act” was passed in Taiwan, and legal norms for climate-change adaptation work have been legislated, to bring Taiwan into line with international standards.

In 2018, the COA continued to promote the “Agricultural Adaptation Programme on Climate Change” in accord with domestic and international conditions. Through various measures we pro-actively (i) maintained soil and water resources, (ii) adjusted the agriproduct cultivation system, (iii) revitalized farmland production, and (iv) used science and technology to research and develop environmental stress-resistant varieties (germplasm). The COA also integrated agricultural resources, and through monitoring and control of the markets for farm, fishery, and animal husbandry products, stabilized the supply of food, thereby ensuring food security while maintaining biodiversity.

Agriculture uses natural resources to produce the food needed by humans in daily life. Climate change has had an increasingly severe impact on agricultural production, and in recent years the COA has adopted a variety of adaptation strategies, with annual rolling reassessments of these strategies. We have implemented measures that include direct payments on farmland, the Big Granary Project, use of reinforced greenhouse facilities, an early warning system for crop natural disasters, and agricultural insurance, in order to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to adapt to climate change and to build sustainable agriculture that can cope with climate threats.

(2) Pro-actively implementing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Action Plan for Reducing Food Loss and Waste

In June of 2018, the “2018 APEC High-level Policy Dialogue on Enhancing Public and Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses and Waste for a Sustainable APEC Food System” event was held in Taiwan, along with the “Reducing Food Losses and Waste Innovation Fair.” Over 100 representatives of the public and private sectors from 15 APEC economic entities (including the US, mainland China, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Chile, the Philippines, and Taiwan) attended. At the APEC meeting, Taiwan’s proposal that APEC economic entities should strengthen public-private partnership to reduce food losses and waste and construct a sustainable APEC food system met with an enthusiastic response. Moreover, Taiwan reported on the results of this High-level Policy Dialogue at meetings held during “Food Security Week” in Papua New Guinea in August of 2018, winning plaudits from Chile, mainland China, Japan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, the chairman of the APEC Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group (ATCWG) and the chairman of the Ocean and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG). Achievements of the “Action Plan” were incorporated into Paragraph 64 of the “APEC Ministerial Chair’s Statement,” affirming the contributions that Taiwan’s promotion of the plan has made to regional food security.

(3) Promoting reinforced facilities agriculture

In order to reduce the impact of climate change, strengthen the adaptability of fruits and vegetables to natural disasters, provide high-quality agriproducts, and stabilize the balance between production and sales, the COA has been promoting a facilities agriculture program running from 2017 to 2021. The target is to guide farmers to build 2,000 hectares of structurally reinforced greenhouses over this period. Based on the “Subsidy Standard of COA-Authorized Program,” the COA can subsidize 50% of costs in western Taiwan and 60% in eastern Taiwan, offshore islands, and Aboriginal communities. Maximum subsidies range from NT$1 million to NT$7.8 million per hectare depending upon the type of structures built. This program has been combined with facilities agriculture insurance, so that those applying for subsidies for “structurally reinforced greenhouse facilities” must also participate in facilities agriculture insurance for at least three years (with one-half of premiums subsidized to a maximum of NT$50,000 per hectare) in order to spread farmers’ operational risks. The COA has also assisted farmers in applying for policy-oriented special-case loans to reduce the burden of investment costs.

The COA has guided the construction of reinforced greenhouse facilities on 318 hectares. We have combined this with certifications of food grown in these facilities as “organic” or as “Traceable Agricultural Products,” in order to promote eco-friendly cultivation and maintain the environmental safety and competitiveness of rural communities.

(4) Creating new technologies for facilities agriculture

In response to climate change, the COA has promoted the development of cultivation technologies for facilities agriculture. We continued to develop new technology for (i) construction of a cross-field IoT smart environmental control system, (ii) a portable plant water shortage and height sensing system, (iii) modularization of the adjustment of the supply of irrigation water and nutrient solution, and (iv) a warning system for abnormal conditions. In the future we can apply these in smart fertigation to construct facilities agriculture systems for different local crops, with the overall goal of encouraging industrial transformation and sustainable development.

In order to strengthen the wind-resistance of greenhouses and prolong their service life, the COA’s Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) completed analysis of damage caused by commonly-used spring clamp connecting ties and self-tapping screws, and completed follow-up R&D on three types of innovative greenhouse connecting clamps. When used on a trial basis in constructing greenhouses, these connecting clamps accelerated construction speed by 30% and lowered costs by 20%. They were also tested for their resistance to electrochemical erosion. These new connecting clamps improved the wind-resistance of greenhouses and prolonged their service life. TARI also designed a self-propelled automatic irrigation gantry, which can measure the height of plants as well as do customized watering of potting medium at a specified height. As for technology for facilities cultivation of green onion, TARI chose to use knitted net (which has excellent wind resistance) draped over a simple aluminum tube frame; tests showed this can reduce losses from typhoons by 30-40%. In addition, because of the absence of pollinators in facilities cultivation of bitter melon, we used honeybee pollination to replace artificial (hand) pollination, and the use of technology for feeding bees with bee bread produced a net income 2.8 times that of artificial pollination, and 1.8 times that of ordinary bee pollination.

(5) Promoting the Big Granary Project

The main mixed staple crops (MSCs) in Taiwan include peanuts, sweet potatoes, corn for human consumption, and Chinese pearl barley. In 2018, 77,418 hectares of land were planted with mixed staple crops, with production value of NT$10.7 billion and production volume of about 500,000 metric tons. Nearly 30,000 farm households were involved in MSC cultivation. Production areas are concentrated in Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung.

In 2018 Taiwan produced a total of about 8.14 million metric tons (MT) of MSCs, including 4.25 million MT of corn, 2.63 million MT of soybean, and 1.26 million MT of wheat. Domestic production of MSCs amounted to only 6% of total imports of MSCs. Through the “Big Granary Project,” the COA guided the construction of a substitute (or outsourced) cultivation system, promoted the introduction into group production zones of (i) contract production and contract sales and (ii) agribusiness management approaches, linked up farms with processing industries, and did marketing and promotional activities. By the end of 2018 we had guided the establishment of 47 domestic MSC group production zones covering 4,280 hectares. We had also set up ten products handling and processing centers, subsidized the purchase of 341 pieces of production-and-marketing machinery, conducted 80 in-the-fields demonstrations and extension activities for domestic MSCs, established MSC technical service teams who provided 20 in-the-fields classes on technology and safe use of pesticides, developed processed products made using domestic MSCs, organized 94 promotion and marketing activities, and did matchmaking for businesses to purchase domestic MSCs and oil-producing crops. The goal is to rebuild the domestic MSC industrial chain and promote industrial development.

The Seed Improvement and Propagation Station of the COA, working in coordination with the Big Granary Project, continually produces seeds for MSCs such as flint corn and sorghum. In 2018 the Station supplied a total of 62,000 kilograms (kg) of flint corn seeds and 6,500 kg of sorghum seeds, as well as processed and stored 24,000 kg of soybean seeds and 256,000 kg of wheat seeds. In conformance with the COA’s policy of promoting import-substitution crops, up to 5,500 hectares of land are presently cultivated with flint corn and other MSCs, which has created conditions to facilitate the production of domestic MSCs.

(6) The use of domestic traceable food in school lunches and for non-staple foods for the military

In order to ensure food safety, the Executive Yuan proposed the “Five Links of Food Safety.” This policy encourages the consumption of domestic traceable foods, starting from school lunches. The use of domestic traceable foods in school lunches was implemented by all municipalities, cities, and counties nationwide starting in the first school semester of 2017. As of December of 2018, 54% of fresh food in school lunches met the “Four Labels and One QR Code” standard. (The “Four Labels” refers to certification labels for organic products, CAS premium agricultural products, Traceable Agricultural Products, and Gi-Am-Pu safe fruits and vegetables, while the “One QR Code” refers to the production traceability QR Code.) Promotional strategies included the following:

1. The COA assisted the Ministry of Education (MOE) to incorporate domestically produced agriproducts with a traceability label (mark) into the MOE’s amended “Contract Template for School Lunch Boxes (Buckets) Procurement.” We also assisted school food purchasing inspectors to correctly distinguish “Four Labels and One QR Code” agriproducts.
2. The COA also finalized the “directions for use of the incentive fund for the central government to subsidize local governments in promoting the use of domestic traceable fresh food in school lunches.” Based on these directions, we utilized the incentive fund to promote the use of domestic traceable fresh food in school lunches.
3. The COA arranged inspections of kitchens belonging to primary and junior high schools and 535 institutional catering businesses. The inspection rate reached 23.61% of all kitchens belonging to schools nationwide and 29.01% of institutional catering businesses that supply lunches to schools. We also conducted sample tests on 4,224 items of fresh agricultural, fisheries, and animal husbandry products from school lunches. Of these 3,402 agriproducts were tested for pesticide residues, with 3,195 (93.9%) up to standards. Also, 822 animal husbandry products were tested for residual veterinary drugs, with 820 (99.8%) up to standards.
4. The COA guided the National Fishermen’s Association and the Ziguan District Fishermen’s Association to provide seafood products meeting the “Four Labels and One QR Code” standard. We also invited key players including school lunch directors, institutional catering business operators, and representatives of parents’ associations to visit seafood production areas to better understand fishing community culture and the fisheries production process, in order to build confidence in (and consequent use of) domestic seafood. In 2018 we expanded this program to 12 institutional catering businesses and 135 schools.

On September 21, 2017, the COA began to encourage farmers’ organizations to provide non-staple foods (vegetables) to the nation’s military that had one of three certifications: Traceable Agricultural Products, Gi-Am-Pu, or Organic. During the early trial period about 15.1% of the non-staple foods supplied to the military met this criterion, and this figure rose to 23% at the end of December of 2017 and to 39.7% as of the end of December of 2018 (of which 32.1% were Traceable Agricultural Products, 3.3% were organic products, and 4.3% were Gi-Am-Pu products), indicating steady, stable growth. In addition, based on the “Directions of Fishermen’s Association Applying for the National Troops Fishing Product Supply Business,” the COA guided the National Fishermen’s Association to organize nine district fishermen’s associations (those of Keelung, Wanli, Danshui, Chiayi, ZIguan, Linyuan, Donggang, Hualien, and Penghu) to supply about 1,400 metric tons of non-staple seafood to the military, with total sales worth NT$180 million. We also guided fishermen’s associations to sign contracts with tilapia aquaculture operators for 50 metric tons, and conducted a promotion for about 35 metric tons of milkfish. All of these moves helped to strengthen the health of these industries and to develop marketing and sales channels for fisheries products.

(7) Strengthening food and agricultural education

To strengthen understanding of the concepts of food and agricultural education (FAE) for all people, and to increase recognition of and support for domestic agriproducts, since October 15 of 2018, the COA has declared the 15th of every month to be “Food Day,” encouraging people to embrace the “three do’s and one don’t” of eating: Do consume fresh local produce in season, do share your food with others, do purchase unprocessed fresh ingredients, and don’t waste food. We strengthened the dissemination of information to consumers, restaurants, and sales channels, to advance citizens’ understanding of FAE. Through cooking programs and advertising we reached people 2,685,000 times.

Focusing on the issue of “agricultural production and the environment,” and in coordination with concepts like healthy dietary lifestyles and dietary culture, the COA promoted FAE curriculums, course plans, and experiential activities in 60 schools. We developed FAE conceptual frameworks for students at different stages of learning, so that they don’t limit themselves to campus farms but also become aware of the value of agriculture. The COA printed 154 sets of educational materials, and offered 1,268 FAE courses and 246 experiential activities with a total of 10,312 students participating. In addition, we laid out plans for FAE information distribution and training courses aimed at different audiences in different locations, and created FAE model rural communities and farmers’ groups where we did internal training and activities related to FAE on 156 occasions, with 6,591 participants.