Page 68 - 2019 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Pleasurable Banquet: Distilling beautiful fragrances Unit Four: Upgrading the Competitiveness of Rural Industries
together towards sustainable goals for Asia- Pacific regional food security and mitigation of climate change.
APEC economies have praised Taiwan’s efforts to address regional food security issues by introducing measures such as reducing food losses and waste in recent years. They also supported Taiwan’s succession in 2020 to be the Lead Shepherd of the APEC "Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group," which leads the way in expanding cooperation and exchanges of experience among APEC economies in food security, smart agriculture,
Cultivation in net greenhouses protects leafy vegetables.
Cultivation in net greenhouses protects gourd vegetables.
resilience to climate change, green energy, and circular agriculture, thereby improving the agricultural technology and practices of APEC members.
(3) Promoting reinforced facilities agriculture
In order to reduce the impact of climate change, strengthen the adaptability of fruits and vegetables to natural disasters, provide high-quality agriproducts, and stabilize the balance between production and sales, the COA has been promoting a facilities agriculture program running from 2017 to 2021, guiding farmers to construct structurally reinforced net greenhouses. Based on the "Subsidy Standard of COA-Authorized Program," the COA can subsidize 50% of costs in western Taiwan and 60% in eastern Taiwan, offshore islands, and indigenous communities. Maximum subsidies range from NT$1 million to NT$7.8 million per hectare depending upon the type of structures built. We have also introduced smart environment control equipment and guided farmers to undertake automated labor-saving cultivation in these facilities. This program has been combined with facilities agriculture insurance, so that those applying for subsidies for "structurally reinforced net greenhouse facilities" must also participate in facilities agriculture insurance for at least three years (with one-half of premiums subsidized to a maximum of NT$50,000 per hectare) in order to spread farmers’ operational risks. The COA has also assisted farmers in applying for policy- oriented special-case agricultural loans to deal with the problem of finding investment capital for facilities.
In 2019 the COA guided the construction of reinforced net greenhouse facilities on 337 hectares of land, introduced smart environment control and automated equipment (facilities), optimized the net greenhouse production environment, guided the cultivation of vegetables and fruit trees in net greenhouses, and expanded the use of steel-frame net
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A hands-on demonstration of cultivation of mangoes in automated steel-framed net greenhouses.