New Taipei City's Agricultural Damage Surveys Continue Without Letup, Seeking Central Cash Assistance

On the 3rd, New Taipei Deputy Mayor Yeh Hui-ching inspected agricultural damage along the North Coast and the Jinshan Huanggang Fishing Harbor. For the more severely damaged crops such as watermelon, sweet potato and nurseries, she sought central agricultural natural disaster assistance to help farmers resume cultivation as soon as possible. Relief payments were also issued for 2 semi-submerged fishing boats. During the heavy rain period, damage surveys continued every day.

On June 2, unusually heavy rain fell, and New Taipei City activated its agricultural natural disaster survey mechanism to track agricultural damage across the city. Early on June 3, district offices took advantage of the receding floodwaters to inspect agricultural damage in their areas. The Agriculture Department compiled damage reports from the district offices of Tamsui, Sanzhi, Shimen, Jinshan and Wanli. Currently, the affected agricultural area is 147.73 hectares, with a damage level of about 27%, equivalent to an area of 39.83 hectares, and agricultural losses of about 5.244 million yuan.

The agricultural damage mainly includes watermelon, sweet potato, nurseries, water bamboo and leafy vegetables. Sanzhi watermelons were in the flowering and fruiting stage, so the damage from flooding was relatively severe. Jinshan sweet potatoes had been planted for just over a month and were mostly at the stage of growing vines and forming small tubers; the floodwaters washed away soil and left the roots exposed, so after the water receded farmers were advised to rebuild the soil to reduce the impact. The nurseries in Jinshan and Wanli had potted flowers washed away and flattened by the floodwaters.

The Agriculture Department said it had contacted the Taoyuan District Agricultural Improvement Station and the Northern Region Branch of the Agriculture and Food Agency to form a disaster inspection team to survey the agricultural damage. If the damage level for any single crop reaches 20% or more, a request for central assistance will be submitted. In the coming days, district offices will continue to survey agricultural damage, and farmers are urged to report any agricultural damage to their local district office as soon as possible.