Page 18 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Collective Innovation Sustainable Management Unit 2: Building Agricultural Models 1. Promoting Direct Payments on Farmland With the aims of adjusting the structure of the rice industry and increasing the supply of domestically produced mixed staple crops, starting in 2018 the COA promoted the “Plan for Direct Payments on Farmland” nationwide. The direct payments system includes incentives for farmers to grow competitive crops such as import substitution, export-oriented, and main-point development crops under contract. We also implemented the “two-track system” of offering both “direct payments on farmland” and “guaranteed prices purchasing.” The COA moreover implements production- environment maintenance measures once a year, guides farmers to plant the right crop in the right location, and promotes sustainable development of agriculture. The COA began implementing a two-track system of “direct payments on farmland” for rice farms and “guaranteed prices purchasing” of rice on a trial basis in the second crop season of 2016. The aim was to encourage farmers to produce high-quality rice and sell it on the open market by offering them the choice to collect a direct payment on the area of land farmed instead of selling their rice to public stocks. After three crop seasons of trial implementation, A leaflet about “direct payments The growth of the green manures on farmland.” rapeseed and Egyptian clover. 16