Page 74 - 2019 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

72
Pleasurable Banquet: Distilling beautiful fragrances Unit Four: Upgrading the Competitiveness of Rural Industries
(b)Eliminating high-risk pesticides, strengthening graded management: This strategy includes banning the use of herbicides on non-agricultural land. Since 2013 the COA has announced schedules for the ban or restricted use of pesticides, with bans on the use of 30 pesticides including Mevinphos and restricted use of 87 pesticides including Fenobucarb and Isoprocarb.
(c) Finalizing supporting measures to steadily progress toward reducing chemical pesticide use by half: This strategy includes upgrading the academic requirements and training for pesticide dealers and promoting a system of outsourcing of pesticide spraying. The policy has been written up and an electronic file has been posted on the homepage of the COA’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine for reference. The COA will continue to do rolling reassessments so that the policy of reducing the use of chemical pesticides by half over a ten-year period can steadily achieve its goals and we can ensure the safety and quality of agricultural products.
C. The COA also promoted the IPM program, guiding farmers to use pesticides economically, rationally, and safely. We promoted the use of safe materials for prevention of harmful organisms on 1,100 hectares of land, reducing the amount of pesticides used by an average of 35%. The COA also held the "1st Integrated Pest Management Awards" with COA Minister Chen Chi-chung attending the ceremony and handing out the awards. All of the nominees and winners were model farmers in terms of reducing the use of chemical pesticides. These awards are helpful in encouraging farmers who want to practice IPM on their farms, upgrading domestic agricultural production technology, ensuring the safety of agriproducts for human consumption, and advancing towards sustainable agriculture.
D. In coordination with the President’s policy of the "Five Links of Food Safety" and the COA’s policy of reducing the use of chemical
pesticides by half over a ten-year period, the COA has promoted a "plant doctor" system. We subsidized the establishment of five plant teaching hospitals (including ones at National Taiwan University, National Chung Hsing University, National Chiayi University, and National Pingtung University of Science and Technology) and unveiled fee-earning operations. Also, municipal, city, and county governments, agribusinesses, and farmers’ production cooperatives hired plant doctor interns to provide farmers with timely and accurate diagnoses of harmful organisms and precise customized suggestions for preventive measures. Through cross-disciplinary cooperation and media information campaigns, the COA has endeavored to win public acceptance of the plant doctors system.
(2) Strengthening the management of veterinary drugs
Taking into account the rapid development of the aquaculture industry and the large and increasing number of species of aquatic animals, in the interests of disease prevention, the COA approved extended use of Florfenicol for the Testudines order of animals and the extended use of Oxolinic acid for all species of the Perciformes order in order to treat bacterial diseases. In addition, on April 22, 2019, the COA announced amendments to Supplementary 1 of Article 3 of the "Veterinary Drugs Use Regulations" governing the use of pharmaceuticals on aquatic animals.
To promote R&D and technology transfer by biotechnology firms and to enable makers of veterinary drugs that do not have factories for manufacturing of such drugs to use authorized manufacturing to apply for registration for testing of new veterinary drugs and to get licenses for these drugs, the COA amended the "Regulations for Authorizing Manufacture of Veterinary Drugs"; the amendments were announced and entered into effect on June 6, 2019.