The impact of WTO accession on the nation's agricultural production has so far been smaller than had been expected, a senior official with the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Monday.
Fielding questions at a Legislative Yuan budget screening meeting, COA Vice Chairman Lee Chien-chuan (李建全) said the loss in agricultural production resulting from WTO entry at the beginning of this year has been less than previous gloom and doom estimations.
To date, he said, only tea and plum growers have qualified to receive subsidies from the import damage relief fund, which was established by the council to help farmers seriously affected by various market-opening measures under the WTO provisions.
The COA set aside NT$2.36 billion (US$67.43 million) for the import relief fund for 2002.
As WTO entry-induced agricultural production losses are expected to increase progressively, Lee said, the COA has appropriated NT$15.56 billion for the fund for the coming year.
The COA originally forecast that the loss in agricultural production in the first year of WTO accession would reach about NT$24.7 billion, Lee said.
"But judging from trends over the past 10 months, the actual amount should be far less than the original estimate," Lee said to lawmakers.
Some local private think tanks previously predicted that Taiwan could see a 5-percent to 10-percent loss in its agricultural production in the first few years following its WTO entry.
"Judging from the current trend, I think that the percentage might not be so high, " Lee noted.
Such news may come as a relief to farmers who feared post-accession international competition.
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