Responding to the need to ease restrictions on rice imports and cut agricultural supports in the wake of WTO accession, the COA implemented the "Follow-up Adjustment Program of Paddy and Upland Field Utilization." This program is steadily adjusting the growing of rice, coarse grain, and contract sugarcane for sale to the government at guaranteed prices, while also helping farmers to adopt crop rotations schemes involving regional crops, leave their land fallow, or plant green manure crops. The COA provided assistance for crop rotation and fallowing on a total area of roughly 243,000 hectares in 2003, and adjusted rice cultivation area to 272,000 hectares. This achieved lower domestic agricultural support goals, while taking into consideration farmland ecology and soil fertility needs.

To improve the competitiveness of domestic rice, the COA helped farmers plant Quality Rice seed on 157,000 hectares, which was equivalent to 58% of all rice-growing area in 2003. In conjunction with the promotion of rice grading and inspection systems, the COA implemented the purchase of graded public rice on a trial basis. The COA also strengthened assistance to farmers' associations and grain merchants purchasing rice for their own use, and helped the Huatung, Yunlin, Northern Taiwan, Farmers' Association, and Tainan rice production-marketing strategic alliances; these strategic alliances established their own common brands, expanding marketing channels for " Taiwan Premium Rice."

The COA helped growers produce superior fruit with distinctive local features. The COA assisted in improving the environment and facilities of orchard’s production and marketing on 1,211 hectares, and improving orchard’s irrigating facilities, refrigerator, product-collecting depots, and sorting equipment as part of a campaign to promote labor-saving mechanized cultivation and operation ; a total of 3,050 hectares of orchards benefit from this campaign. The COA helped growers with uncompetitive fruit trees to upgrade to superior varieties with distinctive local characteristics or use the land for green manure crops or tree farms; these changes were implemented on a total of 1,700 hectares.

The COA promoted localization, upgrading, and distinctiveness in its campaign to improve the quality of domestic coarse grain products, and provided marketing incentives for 31 types of newly developed coarse grain products. Programs and assistance included assistance for cultivation of super-sweet corn under contract for export, implementation of sweet potato grading and production-marketing improvements, establishment of a specialized production area for Job's tears, establishment of a joint packing and sales center for coarse grain products in southern Taiwan, establishment of a three-level peanut seed growing system, and promotion of the cultivation of competitive, localized peanut cultivars.

With regard to the improvement of flower varieties, the COA selected varieties of poinsettia suitable for cut flowers and improved Phalaenopsis orchid production technology; the improvement of storage and shipment facilities, the implementation of grading and packing, and use of freshness preservation technology enhanced the quality of these orchids. The COA helped exporters and flower growers to implement the cultivation of popular flowers such as chrysanthemums and gladiolus under contract; 12 million of these flowers were exported in 2003. The COA conducted overseas advertising campaigns to build up the image of Taiwan's high competitive Oncidium and Phalaenopsis orchids, and held international and regional orchid shows. In an effort to tap the East Asia market, the COA performed trial sea shipment of Oncidium orchids and flamingo lilies.

The COA strove to strengthening the environment of production and marketing and cultivated technology for which possess market potential, including leaf vegetables, flower/fruit vegetables, watermelons, cantaloupes, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms, etc. In view of the fact that consumers ordinarily have difficulty in distinguishing domestic products from imported products by appearance alone, the COA actively promoted certification marks and awareness activities for domestic shiitake mushrooms, day lilies, and lotus seeds; the Intellectual Property Office, MOEA, approved the registration of the trademarks for these products. The COA hopes that customers will be able to distinguish fresh, safe, high-quality domestic produce by glancing at its packaging.

The COA assisted the development of special crops with health functions, and encouraged the application of health-care herbs. New products developed during 2003 included Mesona procumbens sticks, Mesona procumbens noodles, Acanthopanax tea, Pentapanax tea, and Angelica tea. The COA has thus far helped farmers' groups and production-marketing teams developed 30 types of health-care herbs, and assisted farmers to grow Ficus formosana, mulberry, Chinese yam, Hance ampelopsis, Bupleurum, Portulaca oleracea, Gynura formosana, lemon grass, Napier grass, and Chinese matrimony vine. By encouraging the establishment of intra- and inter-industry strategic alliances involving health-care herbs, the COA has stimulated local prosperity.

The revised Supervision Guidelines of Organic Agricultural Production, Accreditation Procedure for Bodies Certifying Organic Agricultural Products, and Organic Agricultural Production Standards-Crops were announced on September 15, 2003 and the organic Agricultural Production Standards-Livestock was announced on October 3 of the same year.

The COA expanded the education of pesticide-using safety and established the certification system of GAP (Good Agricultural Practice). Under the COA assistance, 1,535 production-marketing teams (35% of all production-marketing teams in Taiwan) earned GAP certification in 2003. The GAP certification helps the consumers to choose the better products and helps the growers to improve their production. The COA encourages trade companies to contract with GAP certified growers to ensure the quality of exported products.

In the area of logistics, the COA has made active efforts to improve management of agricultural product wholesale markets. Relevant measures included the establishment of a professional flower auctioneer licensing system, the establishment of a flower wholesale market in Kaohsiung and a flower and tree wholesale market in Taipei, assistance for farmers' groups establishing large produce direct sales centers, construction of a multipurpose flower processing and display center in Puli, continued improvement of farmers' association supermarket equipment, establishment of an online agricultural product joint marketing model and mechanism, implementation of 85 "Hope Plaza" sales promotions, and holding of 80 flower sales promotion, education, exhibition, and media activities. With regard to information sharing, the COA continued to strengthen its global agricultural product price information website, improve agricultural product marketing information website management and service quality, develop e-commerce, and improve agricultural product distribution systems.