The nation’s agriculture and aquaculture sectors suffered losses worth hundreds of millions of New Taiwan dollars due to one of the strongest cold fronts in years, with legislators calling on the government to accelerate efforts to assess damage and provide compensation.
The cold spell has caused irreparable damage to 1,583 hectares of crops, with strawberries suffering the most damage, the Council of Agriculture said.
Mass die-offs of fish were reported in central and southern municipalities, with Tainan bearing the brunt, as the city alone suffered losses of NT$231.86 million (US$6.88 million) in damaged fish stock, especially milkfish.
Photo: CNA
Losses as of yesterday totaled NT$404.81 million, with the aquaculture sector registering the heaviest losses, at NT$327.08 million.
The council on Monday declared all cities and counties in the nation as disaster areas, and farmers who sustained losses of more than 20 percent of their crops or stock can apply for a cash grant to resume farming, while damage in the fishery industry was expected to continue to increase.
Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) — who quit the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and joined the People First Party (PFP) before the elections — said prices of vegetables in the past few days were appreciably higher than in the same period last year, while demand would continue to increase ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, so the government should set up measures to stabilize the market and maintain reasonable prices.
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) said the damage wrought by cold and snow in mountainous areas had not been seen in decades, and the government should enact special compensation measures for damaged crops grown at higher altitudes, which provide a livelihood to many Aborigines.
PFP legislator-elect Chou Chen Hsiu-hsia (周陳秀霞) said 90 percent of the fishing ponds in Tainan’s Syuejia District (學甲), or about 1,800 hectares of ponds, were damaged, and salvaged fish could only be left to rot because of insufficient freezer storage facilities.
Chou Chen called on the government to place more freezers in fish farming regions to reduce losses.
Agriculture and Food Agency Deputy Director Chen Chun-yen (陳俊言) said the diminishing supply of vegetables was largely due to delays in harvests rather than weather damage, and that vegetables were damaged as much as fruit trees, which suffered the most damage.
The damage to milkfish stocks would not have a significant impact on the supply of aquatic products, as the shortage could be made up by other fish species and ocean fisheries, Chen said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or