Page 6 - 2019 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

promoted "direct payments on farmland" (also known as "green environmental direct payments" because they include rewards for eco-friendly farming), incentivizing cultivation of higher quality rice and conservation of the land. More than 300,000 farmers benefitted from this policy, which increased incomes per hectare by NT$5,000 to NT$15,000 per crop season. Also, to help deal with the rural labor shortage, the COA adopted policies to increase the supply of labor and decrease demand for it. The COA has established 139 agricultural labor teams, recruiting 2,556 people to help out with agricultural tasks, and in 2019 promoted a program for foreign laborers to work in the dairy industry as well as another program for young Indonesian farmers to intern on Taiwanese farms, and guided the creation of mechanized custom farming teams to cultivate land for farmers. We further encouraged young people to take jobs in the agricultural sector and have trained a total of 9,366 young people so far.
Raising the competitiveness of the farming, fisheries, and animal husbandry industries, promoting the export of agricultural products
To promote organic agriculture and eco- friendly farming, the "Organic Agriculture Promotion Act" and related bylaws formally took effect on May 30 of 2019, and these will be helpful to the development of the organic agriculture industry in Taiwan and to bilateral recognition of organic equivalence with other countries. In 2019 organic agriculture was being practiced on 9,606 hectares of land, and 3,761 farming households had been organic-certified, creating a coverage rate of 1.75%, the highest in Asia. In addition, Taiwan and Japan signed a bilateral agreement on organic equivalence, opening up a new export market for domestically produced organic agriproducts. To implement the "Five Links of Food Safety" policy, the COA promoted the use of food ingredients meeting the "Three Labels and One QR Code" standard in school lunches and for non-staple foods for the military, for a coverage rate of 59%. Up to 45% of the vegetables used for non-staple foods for the military were domestically produced traceable vegetables. These measures ensured food safety for 1.86 million students and 190,000 military servicemen. Moreover, demand drove
production, upgrading Taiwan’s food self- sufficiency rate and promoting acceptance and support for domestic agriproducts. Also, amendments to the "Agricultural Production and Certification Act" aimed at (i) constructing a single integrated system for management of agriproducts from production through primary processing, (ii) strengthening the sanitation and safety of agriproducts, and (iii) developing local primary processing, were promulgated on December 25 of 2019. New provisions were added to provide a legal basis for promoting the operation of primary processing venues for agriproducts, making it easier for small farmers to get licenses for processing operations and promoting the upgrading of agriculture. Finally, the COA also set up seven "Agricultural Products Value-Added Prototyping Centers" and the "Agricultural Product Processing Integrated Services Center" to assist farmers to develop primary processing operations and increase value added.
The COA worked together with fishermen to win agreement from the European Union to remove Taiwan from the list of countries issued "Yellow Card" warnings for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, thereby securing NT$40 billion in production value from the fisheries industry as well as having a corollary impact on development of related industries worth over NT$100 billion. The COA fully subsidized fishing vessel communications equipment, increased work flexibility for crewmen, and improved fishing industry infrastructure. We also promoted the under-forest economy, opening up land for cultivation of jewel orchids (Anoectochilus
formosanus), forest bee products, and shiitake and wood ear (black fungus) grown on wood logs, thereby providing economic support to forest farmers during the long periods before harvesting of lumber and promoting prosperity in the mountain forests.
The COA also worked to develop agro- tourism, innovating integrated value-added "six-industry" experiential travel itineraries and building a favorable rural environment that is colorful, travel-friendly, and "smart." By the end of 2019 the COA had designated 95 "recreational farm areas," licensed 463 leisure farms, assisted in the founding of 117 "Tian Mama’s cuisine