Page 20 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Collective Innovation Sustainable Management Unit 2: Building Agricultural Models In addition, in 2018 the Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station of the COA, in coordination with promotion of the Plan for Direct Payments on Farmland, undertook propagation of seeds needed for cultivation of mixed staple crops grown under contract (including soybeans, flint corn, forage corn, wheat, and sorghum) as well as for green manure (for production- environment maintenance) and promoted the cultivation of green manure on 57,000 hectares of land. 2. Stabilizing Farmers' Incomes (1) Implementing agricultural insurance Because of changes to the environment caused by climate change, and the increasing severity of natural disasters, in recent years the COA has been actively promoting agricultural insurance. As of the end of 2018, trial insurance had been developed and sold for 11 items, including Oriental pears, mangoes, paddy rice, sugar apples, aquaculture seafood products, grouper, poultry (for avian influenza), agricultural facilities, papayas, wax apples, and milkfish. Farmers and fishermen have been provided with the option to take out insurance on these products, in order to spread operational risk. In order to encourage farmers to participate in agricultural insurance, the On November 13, 2018, former COA Minister Lin Tsung- hsien visited the Yuanshan Township Farmers’ Association in Yilan County to show concern about the handling of applications from farmers to participate in Farmers’ Occupational Injury Insurance. COA first adopted parallel implementation of two systems: (i) agricultural insurance and (ii) natural disaster relief. Based on the “Operational Directions for Subsidies on Pilot Agricultural Insurance,” the “Regulations for Implementation and Subsidy of Sugar Apple Income Insurance Pilot Scheme,” the “Operational Directions for Subsidies on Pilot Aquaculture Natural Disasters Insurance,” and the “Directions for Subsidies of Trial Poultry Industry Insurance,” subsidies of 1/3 to 1/2 of premiums were provided for insurance products that had been reviewed, approved, and announced by the COA. Some county and city governments also provided partial subsidies for insurance premiums. The COA also provided “loans for agricultural insurance,” in order to assist 18