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Increase farming subsidies: Tsai

Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, right, accompanied by Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen, looks at a melon during her visit to a greenhouse in Taibao City, Chiayi County, yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged the administration to offer short-term subsidies to farmers to mitigate the impact of surging commodity and fertilizer prices.

Tsai made the comments as she visited Chiayi farmers hit hard by rising prices. Wearing a bamboo-leaf hat and pink sleeve protectors, Tsai helped the farmers harvest rice and was treated to a “big pot” luncheon, usually offered by farmers in return for help in the fields.

While Tsai picked rice with the help of an old-fashioned manual tool that organizers had rented, the farmers said the job is done with machinery nowadays.

Tsai also visited a fruit and vegetable farm and marketing center in Taibao City (太保), where she cut Meinong melon for participants and listened to the opinions of local farmers.

Agriculture accounts for more than 40 percent of Chiayi County’s industries. Fifty percent of the center’s products are delivered to customers by express mail, while some of the products are sold at wholesale stores. Customers can place online orders for the produce.

One farmer said they were happy to see Tsai because they rarely see politicians except at election time. He asked Tsai and the DPP to pressure the administration to increase state prices for rice purchases during times of emergency. Another farmer requested that the party keep them informed of its efforts to pressure the government for better policies.

Tsai said that price hikes were unavoidable, but that the government must consider timing.

”The government must have the guts to seek better benefits at the negotiation table under the WTO framework,” she said. “The DPP managed to do it when we were in power. The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] must do the same or it must offer short-term subsidies. In the long run, it must have a strategy to make changes to the structure of the industry and come up with a long-term plan.”

Although the government has encouraged farmers to upgrade to high-quality produce, Tsai said the government should help farmers with the difficulties of making that transition or farmers would find themselves with an unstable income.

Tsai was in Chiayi to attend the first meeting of the DPP’s Central Standing Committee held outside of Taipei since she took the party’s helm last month.
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