Farmers from Houlong Township cheered yesterday after a Ministry of the Interior commission rejected the Miaoli County Government’s proposal to turn their land into an industrial park.
She Wun-Long (許文龍), deputy director-general of the ministry’s Construction and Planning Agency, said that since a large portion of the township’s farmland is designated as “special agricultural area”(特別農業區), the ministry’s Regional Planning Commission did not consider it appropriate to convert it into industrial-use land to protect “outstanding farmers and their crops.”
Since the 1970s, the Council of Agriculture has rated the farmland in Houlong as a site for growing “good quality” produce.
In 1995, the National Science Council designated Houlong as the site for the fourth stage expansion of the Hsinchu Science Park. Local residents said they did not know anything about the plan until they were asked by the county government to attend a meeting on the expropriation of their land.
Some of the residents have traveled to Taipei several times to protest over the years.
The Regional Planning Commission last month rejected Miaoli’s request to extend the deadline for submitting a plan for the industrial park, saying it had failed to answer questions about its development plans. Yesterday’s commission meeting was held to render its final decision on the case.
Upon hearing the commission’s decision, a group of protesters from Houlong and their supporters who had gathered in front of the Construction and Planning Agency building earlier yesterday morning to protest against the expropriation of the farmers’ land stood up clapping and cheering.
Some hugged each other with tears of happiness.
“Although life in the countryside may not be as glamorous as life in the city, we are happy living there,” said Hung Hsiang (洪箱), chairperson of the Wanbao Community Development Association representing Wanbao Borough (灣寶) in Houlong.
Residents from Houlong, mostly elderly farmers or landowners, carried baskets filled with hand-made traditional food from their hometown to take part in the protest in Taipei yesterday.
“The women were preparing this food for three days for today’s protest,” a farmer’s representative named Chang Mu-tsun (張木村) said. “The red turtle-shaped cake means although we’ve fought so long, we believe that justice is on our side and we hope we will have a satisfying ending today.”
Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮), chair of National Chengchi University’s Department of Land Economics, congratulated the farmers that their long-term protests have paid off.
“Mr Chang said the nation’s farmers have garnered a second specialty — protesting,” Hsu said. “While it was heartbreaking to hear that, we’ve turned Taiwan farmers’ unfortunate fate around today.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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