The Council of Agriculture (COA) on Tuesday said it is looking to promote crop rotation between rice and grains to boost production while reducing water consumption for agriculture.
COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) made the remarks during an exhibition at the Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station featuring kaoliang liquor made from genetically modified sorghum that has better heat tolerance and green rapeseed that has a shorter growth cycle, and is heat and flood-resistant.
To comply with the government’s “Grand Granary” policy, the station has proposed changing one of the two crop cycles to planting grains, instead of pursuing two rice cycles, station director Yang Hung-ying (揚宏瑛) said.
Photo courtesy of the Council of Agriculture
Fields would plant grains, such as soybeans and sweet corn, from early spring until May, and then switch to planting rice, Yang said.
This would not only lower farmers’ expenditure on pesticides, but would also reduce water usage by 60 to 70 percent compared with planting rice for two continuous cycles, Yang said.
The change would not affect farmers’ income, Yang added.
Crop rotation would allow farmers to plant and harvest grains at least twice before planting rice, which would boost their income from NT$100,000 (US$3,598) or NT$200,000 per hectare to NT$300,000, Chen said.
This would also reduce the expenditure of the government, which currently purchases rice at a preferential price, he added.
In addition, the council is increasing funding for agricultural research and development from NT$400 million to NT$800 million, he said.
The money would be used to develop technologies that would local agriculture deal with climate change, he said.
Only 30 percent of the nation’s farmers make a living from farming, Chen said, citing a survey.
The survey also showed that professional farmers averaged NT$1.8 million in annual income, he said.
The council is trying to coax more farmers to make a living from agriculture by offering incentives such as technical assistance, assisting with negotiating low-interest loans and arranging for guaranteed channels of sales, Chen said.
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