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.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS