A mobile app aimed at increasing the use of larger farm equipment and pesticide-spraying drones is to become available in the first quarter of next year, Council of Agriculture (COA) Deputy Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said on Friday.
Recent government measures, including incentivizing farmers to purchase machinery such as mowing machines and tractors, aimed to address labor shortages, but the adoption of such machinery has been low, he said.
The new app would function as a sharing platform, allowing farmers who can operate larger machinery help those who cannot, the council said.
On the app, farmers could register when and where a larger machine was needed, as well as noting other requirements, and machine operators could contact them with their availability, Chen said.
The council has helped to set up six groups of equipment operators that assist local farmers, and is surveying farms about which crops would benefit and what equipment is available, he said.
The council is considering offering the operator groups more subsidies than are offered for farm machinery purchases, he added.
The groups are assisting with Sanxing shallots in Yilan County, grain in Taichung and organic vegetables in Yunlin County, Chen said, adding that the program is to be expanded to Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taitung and Hualien.
The app would also help to coordinate drones used to spray pesticides on fields.
Under the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), drone handlers need a permit to fly the drone and a duster permit from the council’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.
About 360 people have completed training courses and obtained both permits, Chen said.
The council said that it is working closely with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) regarding air safety, with plans for drone handlers to complete every step — from registering flights to uploading flight plans and trajectories — on the app.
Regulations require drone users to register crop spraying six months in advance — longer than the average crop cycle of four months — but the CAA might relax the requirement to three months, the council said.
Crop-dusting drones would use a real-time-kinematic positioning system developed by the council for more accurate field dusting, Chen said.
The positioning system is to be completed by the end of the year and by June next year is to include terrain information such as hills, mountains and forests, he said.
The goal is completely remote operation, he said, adding that the council has cut pesticide amounts in half to prevent it from spreading to neighboring fields.
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,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. 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
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS