Milestone in Organic Agriculture Development: Seven Years of Effort on the Promotion Act Expected to Pass Third Reading Next Wednesday
In order to accelerate the third reading of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act in the Legislative Yuan during the current session, former Premier Yu Shyi-kun, accompanied by several DPP lawmakers and scholars, paid visits one by one on the 2nd to Legislative Yuan President Su Jia-chyuan, the KMT caucus, the DPP caucus, the New Power Party caucus, and the People First Party caucus. Yu Shyi-kun said that promoting the organic agriculture law is about letting people eat healthily, being friendly to the Earth, and revitalizing rural areas. "Now we are just one step short of the goal. I hope everyone will help more so the bill can pass smoothly."
DPP lawmaker Chen Ting-fei also pointed out, "President Su Jia-chyuan has agreed to hold caucus negotiations this Friday. If the negotiations go smoothly, the bill can pass third reading smoothly at the plenary session next Tuesday."
Guo Huaren: The government's manpower and structure for promoting organic agriculture should both be adjusted again
Guo Huaren, who has worked for many years to promote organic agriculture and related regulations, said, "Promoting organic agriculture is my greatest wish. Even if the organic agriculture law passes, the wish is only just beginning." Guo Huaren said that organic agriculture in Taiwan already has a history of twenty to thirty years, and that efforts to push for legislation began in 2011. Seeing the bill about to pass, "we are very gratified, and on the basis of this bill, we should work even harder to promote organic agriculture."
Changing tack, Guo pointed out that Taiwan urgently needs to transition to organic agriculture. On the one hand, this is because conventional agriculture relies on petroleum, including fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, and so on. Cheap oil prices make it workable for now, but under a future energy crisis, oil will become more and more expensive, conventional agriculture will not be able to continue, and a shift to organic agriculture is inevitable. On the other hand, Taiwan's organic agriculture is progressing slowly; a farm cannot truly complete its transition in just three years, and it may take ten years before the farmland can recover its health. Under such crisis conditions, Taiwan must now develop complete organic agriculture, and the sooner the better.
However, regarding the current negotiated version of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act, Guo Huaren pointed out, "The negotiated provisions differ somewhat from what we imagined, but let it pass first, and revise the parts that are not good enough later." Organic agriculture is an overall concept involving a wide range of areas, but the competent authority is the Organic Agriculture Division under the Agriculture and Food Agency. Not only does it have few staff, it also cannot manage other departments. For example, the farmer guidance section involves the Guidance Department of the Council of Agriculture, the overall planning section involves the Planning Department of the Council of Agriculture, and even the organic fisheries proposed by the EU would involve the Fisheries Agency. "So how can the Agriculture and Food Agency manage all these other parts?"
Guo said he hopes a committee will be established under the chairman of the Council of Agriculture to convene regular meetings and handle matters related to organic agriculture, and that committee members should not be only people from within the Council of Agriculture but should also include outside experts, so that ideas can be pooled.