The COA's agricultural administration works in 2003 sought to strengthen food security, agricultural upgrading, farmers' welfare and rural development, ecological conservation, and international agricultural cooperation. Particular emphasis was placed on:

• Development of superior agriculture and improvement of international competitiveness.
• Development of safe agriculture and protection of consumers' rights and interests.
• Development of recreational farming and provision of attractive recreational spaces.
• Development of environmentally-friendly agriculture and maintenance of ecological harmony.

The COA formulated its agricultural administration principles after taking into consideration local and global development trends, overall economic and agricultural development needs, and the government's re-engineering and national development plans. The COA has sought to fully realize the diverse functions of agriculture and improve citizens' quality of life by contributing with respect to production, life, and the ecology to the development of national entirety.

1. The COA is striving to develop an agricultural knowledge economy, cultivate outstanding human resources, upgrade agricultural technology R&D and related management capabilities, create convenient agricultural information systems improving the effectiveness of agricultural information, establish agricultural technology industrial parks, provide incentives for corporate investment in high-tech agro-industry, strengthen the development and applications of biotechnology, and establish competitive niches in agriculture.
2. The COA is helping agricultural production-marketing groups put their operations on a computerized, systematic, and sound business footing, strengthening the constitution of agricultural strategic alliances, expanding the scope of strategic alliances in production, processing, logistics, and recreational farming, establishing strategic alliance models within agriculture and with other industries, and improving agricultural competitiveness.
3. The COA is working to ensure secure amount of food stocks, establish imported rice management mechanisms, promote the sound business management and sale of public rice stocks, reduce the area of crops grown for guaranteed prices, encourage crop rotation and the growing of specialty crops, strengthen the development of diverse, high-quality agricultural products with local features in conjunction with the food industry, enhance product added value, and promote industrial upgrading.
4. The COA is implementing a responsibility system in the fishing industry to maintain the sustainable management of far-sea fisheries, promoting the diversified utilization of fishing harbors, developing marine ranches and the recreational fishing industry, providing incentives to recreational fishing businesses, adjusting the scope of coastal fisheries to balance economic benefits with the husbandry of fish resources, fostering high-tech, environmentally-friendly aquaculture industries, and boosting the safety and freshness of fish and seafood products.
5. The COA is introducing integrated management throughout the livestock and poultry industry, integrating livestock farms, meat packing plants, distributors, and the food service industry into one production and sales system, promoting joint identification systems for superior products, enhancing the efficiency of livestock and poultry production and marketing, realizing legal protections for animals, beautifying the livestock farm environment, and giving the livestock and poultry industry a new image.
6. The COA is integrating and expanding export and domestic sales channels for domestic agricultural products, upgrading and expanding shipment and sales facilities, improving low-temperature storage and shipment technology, establishing storage and distribution systems, promoting the automated inspection and grading of agricultural products, implementing the systematization and standardization of product packaging, improving shipping and sales efficiency, accelerating the establishment of superior domestic brands, developing e-commerce, strengthening product sales promotions and awareness, and helping businesses to create opportunities.
7. The COA is putting the system of animal and plant disease quarantine and control on a sound footing, improving pest and disease diagnosis and quarantine handling technology, strengthening entry quarantine of imported agricultural products and verification of original production area quarantine, establishing a cross-straits animal and plant quarantine document verification system, strictly preventing agricultural product smuggling, strengthening the plant and animal disease monitoring, notification, and emergency control system, controlling major pests and diseases, implementing a slaughter management system for livestock and poultry, guarding against contamination and drug residues in agricultural products, and ensuring the safety of agricultural products and productive environment.
8. The COA is improving the management of farmers' and fishermen's groups, overseeing the implementation of a farmers' and fishermen's association revival program, helping irrigation associations to diversify their operations, improving the service functions of farmers' and fishermen's groups, building new "life circles" in rural villages, promoting superior farming cultures, enhancing to the welfare of farmers and fishermen, implementing sustainable strategies for boosting agricultural sector employment, establishing recreational farming and fishing parks, developing new service enterprises, and increasing employment opportunities in rural villages.
9. The COA is establishing nationwide debris flow databases and mountainside disaster prevention systems, applying ecological working methods in landslide and debris flow prevention work, strengthening overall watershed planning and water/soil conservation, monitoring changes in mountain slope use and cracking down on illicit use, and maintaining public safety by constantly tracking information on potential disasters.
10. The COA is actively promoting reforestation and beautification, strengthening the management of national forests, shelter forests, and nature reserves, instituting the sound integrated management of coastal areas, wetlands, and the Central Mountain Range Conservation Corridor to realize biodiversity conservation, overhauling the country's forest trail system, establishing an ecological interpretive personnel system, and promoting forest ecotourism.
11. The COA is strengthening international agricultural cooperation, actively participating in international organizations such as WTO and their activities, protecting the rights and interests of agriculture in Taiwan, helping friendly nations to develop agriculture, and promoting bilateral agricultural cooperation.