To encourage young farmers to return to rural villages, the Council of Agriculture plans to work with other government agencies to promote long-term care programs in remote areas, council Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) told a forum in Taipei yesterday.
The two-day forum which began yesterday was organized by the council and is taking place at National Taiwan University.
Asked about the council’s position on illegal structures built on farmland in Yilan County, Lin said the agriculture sector would be without hope if farmland is used to build houses.
People in the past often evaluated agriculture from a capitalistic perspective, but now they should explore ways that sustainable farming can allow humans, nature and culture to coexist, he said.
The Rural Revitalization Act (農村再生條例) was promulgated in 2010, but the government used the act’s budget to build cement structures in rural villages and did little to revitalize local cultures, he said.
To expedite the revival of rural villages, the council in March launched a program called “Rural Revitalization 2.0,” which places more emphasis on assisting young farmers, promoting casual agriculture and cross-disciplinary collaboration, it said in a statement at the time.
The council hopes to foster the idea among young people that living in rural villages can be fashionable and appealing, rather than something that entails reluctant sacrifices, Lin said.
Meanwhile, the council expects to work with other government agencies to introduce Long-term Care Services Program 2.0 services and experimental education to young farmers in remote regions, he said.
For rural cultures to be revived, mayors and county commissioners should look at agriculture with broader vision, rather than treating farmland as nothing but commercial assets like acting Yilan County Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), said Wu Guo-wei (吳國維), president of Luodong Community University in the county’s Luodong Township (羅東).
People should reconnect with their local cultures and ancestral knowledge about farming and rural living, said Chiu Hsing-wei (邱星崴), director of Cultimount Co in Miaoli County’s Nanjhuang Township (南庄).
Living like a local is difficult for people to do nowadays, given the effects of globalization, which encourages a homogenous lifestyle, Chiu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS