Page 23 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Annual Report 2018 Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan from the value of land: (i) lands that have been set aside as land reserved for public facilities and aren’t yet expropriated or compensated, (ii) lands reserved for indigenous peoples that have not yet been used effectively in economic terms, and (iii) existing roads related to land for public use that have been certified by the competent authorities at the municipal, county, or city level as not being used effectively in economic terms, shall not be calculated as part of the total value of land. As for reform of the pension system, a consensus was achieved at the 6th National Agriculture Congress with respect to planning an economic security system for elderly farmers. To wit, the government should integrate (i) farmers’ health insurance, (ii) the welfare allowance for elderly farmers, and (iii) other forms of social insurance and, using the welfare allowance for elderly farmers as the foundation and without affecting the rights and interests of farmers, construct a farmers’ pension system. B. Educational subsidies for children of In order to ensure that the children of disadvantaged farmers and fishermen do not, for economic reasons, miss out on the chance to get high-school and college educations in Taiwan, a program was launched in September of 2003 to provide nancial support and scholarships to these farmers and fishermen. In 2018 a total of NT$809,258,000 in academic subsidies was paid out, helping 95,480 beneciaries continue their education. In 2018, the purchase of 79,000 kiloliters of fuel needed for the operation of 205,878 agricultural machines in Taiwan was exempted from the 5% business tax (with total savings of NT$166.9 million). Also, the COA subsidized the purchase of about 550,000 kiloliters of diesel fuel for 6,834 fishing vessels, with subsidies totaling about NT$1.432 billion. In addition, we provided subsidies of NT$100 million for 6,072 gasoline powered shing boats. D. Stabilizing supply and demand for fertilizers To accelerate the expansion of eco- friendly farming, the COA provided total subsidies of NT$338 million to encourage farmers to apply 675,100 metric tons of compound fertilizer containing organic materials such as peat, with the goal of replacing traditional chemical fertilizers and reducing the volume of chemical fertilizers used. In addition, we provided NT$25.41 million to subsidize the costs of transporting 51,000 metric tons of fertilizer to Taitung, Hualien, and offshore islands, in order to protect the right of farmers in remote areas to have access to fertilizer and ensure that the end-user fertilizer costs for farmers 21