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Betel nut farmers snub agriculture program

Betel nut farmers, scholars and lawmakers attacked a government agriculture program yesterday, saying it offered little in the form of compensation for replacing betel nut crops with trees.

"From a farmer's point of view, such a reward system is of no use at all," said Chao Chung-chuan (趙重權), a member of the Betel Nut Farmers' Association (菁仔聯誼總會).

"Offering us some NT$20,000 every year to help the government grow more trees? I might as well desert my land and work in a factory instead."

Chao was speaking yesterday at a public hearing on betel nut problems held by the People First Party (PFP) caucus at the Legislative Yuan.

According to the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA), farmers who are willing to grow trees on their lands while giving up their betel nut plantations will receive NT$530,000 per hectare over the course of 20 years.

That provides farmers who join the program roughly NT$26,500 annually.

PFP Legislator Chen Chao-jung (陳朝容) echoed Chao's view.

"If the government is willing to offer more financial incentives to betel nut farmers, I am sure farmers will be more willing to give up growing betel nuts," Chen said.

But government officials, armed with statistics, said the reward scheme has yielded certain benefits over the past three years.

Tang Hsiao-yu (湯曉虞), deputy director of the COA's forestry department, said 1,439 hectares of land that belong to the forestry department have been planted with trees as of June, out of a total of 3,672 hectares originally covered with illegal betel nut plantations.

Betel nuts, known as "Taiwan's chewing gum," are the second-largest cash crop on the island. They're usually sprinkled with spices and other flavorings, served with a wedge of pepper or wrapped inside a leaf, then sold at roadside stalls nationwide.

But due to the olive-sized nut's association with mouth cancer and with soil and water conservation problems, the government in 1997 launched a five-year campaign to crack down on the betel nut industry and to limit the spread of betel nut use.

Scholars, however, say the government has taken a passive attitude toward the betel nut industry in the past, and that has led to many of the industry's problems today.

"The `three Nos' policy [no assistance, no popularization, no encouragement] is an irresponsible initiative that only enables the government to evade its obligations," said Chen Chao-Lang (陳昭郎), professor of agriculture at of National Taiwan University.

"This policy has existed during the past few decades. But as problems triggered by betel nut plantations are becoming more and more complicated, I dare to say such a policy has even caused these problems," Chen said.

In addition, Chen urged the government to re-examine related agricultural policies in order to help local betel nut farmers deal with greater competition that is expected with Taiwan's WTO entry.
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