The Council of Agriculture (COA) said it plans to make a bigger push for the development of organic agriculture by promoting environmentally friendly farming methods in light of limited progress achieved in the government’s drive for organic farming over the past decade.
Although Taiwan has promoted organic farming for about 10 years, progress has been limited as organic farms constitute only 0.7 percent of the nation’s farmland, which is much lower than the more than 10 percent share seen in several EU member nations, an Agriculture and Food Agency official said.
In addition, after the Agricultural Production and Certification Act (農產品生產及驗證管理法) was promulgated in 2007, there were only 11 accredited institutions that can perform the certification process, as of the end of last year.
There are 2,439 hectares of land being used for organic farming of vegetables, 1,780 hectares for rice and 1,206 hectares for fruits.
The official said that in addition to providing NT$5,000 to NT$10,000 in subsidies for organic farmers to buy raw materials and farming equipment, the council also offers financial support for farmers to buy farmland and organic fertilizers.
While organic farms constitute only 0.7 percent of the nation’s total farmland, the rate is equivalent to that of the US and higher than Japan’s 0.24 percent, the official said.
However, compared with many EU member nations, which have been promoting organic farming for 50 years, Taiwan has been slow to adopt such agricultural practices, the official added.
Organic farming constitutes 10.3 percent of the agricultural sector in Italy, while it accounts for 11.9 percent in France and 16.3 percent in Switzerland.
Taiwan’s relatively low contribution of land to organic farming has mainly been attributed to the area of the nation’s farmland and the high potential for organic farms to be subject to contamination from neighboring fields, the agency said.
Therefore, the council has coordinated with state-owned institutions, such as Taiwan Sugar Corp and the Veterans Affairs Council, to release farmland for organic farming.
The COA plans to step up promotion of environmentally friendly methods of cultivation that aim to refrain from the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers to create arable land suitable for organic farming, the official said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS