Page 77 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Annual Report 2018 Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan In 2018, the COA continued to promote the “Agricultural Adaptation Programme on Climate Change” in accord with domestic and international conditions. Through various measures we pro-actively (i) maintained soil and water resources, (ii) adjusted the agriproduct cultivation system, (iii) revitalized farmland production, and (iv) used science and technology to research and develop environmental stress-resistant varieties (germplasm). The COA also integrated agricultural resources, and through monitoring and control of the markets for farm, fishery, and animal husbandry products, stabilized the supply of food, thereby ensuring food security while maintaining biodiversity. Agriculture uses natural resources to produce the food needed by humans in daily life. Climate change has had an increasingly severe impact on agricultural production, and in recent years the COA has adopted a variety of adaptation strategies, with annual rolling re- assessments of these strategies. We have implemented measures that include direct payments on farmland, the Big Granary Project, use of reinforced greenhouse facilities, an early warning system for crop natural disasters, and agricultural insurance, in order to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to adapt to climate change and to build sustainable agriculture that can cope with climate threats. (2) Pro-actively implementing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Action Plan for Reducing Food Loss and Waste In June of 2018, the “2018 APEC High- level Policy Dialogue on Enhancing Public and Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses and Waste for a Sustainable APEC Food System” event was held in Taiwan, along with the “Reducing Food Losses and Waste Innovation Fair.” Over 100 representatives of the public and private sectors from 15 APEC economic entities (including the US, mainland China, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Chile, the Philippines, and Taiwan) attended. At the APEC meeting, Taiwan’s proposal that APEC economic entities should strengthen public-private partnership to reduce food losses and waste and construct a sustainable APEC food system met with an enthusiastic response. Moreover, Taiwan reported on the results of this High- level Policy Dialogue at meetings held during “Food Security Week” in Papua New Guinea in August of 2018, winning plaudits from Chile, mainland China, Japan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, the chairman of the APEC Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group (ATCWG) and the chairman of the Ocean and Fisheries Working Group 75