The nation should use advanced technology to stimulate the development of the local agricultural sector and keep its core technology and expertise in Taiwan to maintain its competitiveness, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday.
At a seminar on organic living to mark Taiwan Organic Agriculture Day in Taichung City, Wang predicted organic produce would grow increasingly competitive over the long term given that global resources are becoming scarce.
Oil is one such resource, Wang said, citing its rise to US$80 per barrel, even though the global economy has yet to recover.
He said although Taiwan is considered a “developing” country, only about 2,400 hectares, or about 0.2 percent of the nation’s farmland, are organically farmed because of a lack of consumer consciousness.
That is less than the 2 percent of land organically farmed in South Korea and far below the higher percentages of land devoted to organic farming in Japan, the EU, New Zealand and Australia, Wang said.
Regulations governing organic agriculture have been included in the Agricultural Products Production and Certification Screening Management Law (農產品生產及驗證管理法), which was passed by the Legislative Yuan two years ago and came into effect this year, he said.
The Council of Agriculture has also set a goal of increasing the country’s organic farmland to 5,000 hectares by the end of this year, and, as a result, the organic agriculture sector is calling this year the first year of Taiwanese organic agriculture, Wang added.
In light of the outflows of Taiwan’s advanced agricultural technology and superior agricultural strains to China in recent years, Wang said that Taiwan’s agricultural sector should keep its core technology in Taiwan to avoid losing its competitive edge.
RSS