The Organic Agriculture Promotion Act Is About to Take Effect: What Are the Maximum Lease Term and Rent for Public Land?
To expand the area of organic agriculture in the country, the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act offers quite a few attractive incentives and rewards. It was announced on May 30 last year, and because many supporting measures were still pending, it only officially took effect on May 30 this year. The Council of Agriculture has recently announced 7 sub-regulations one after another. In addition to granting organic farmers ecological conservation rewards, if farmers lease public land or land owned by state-run enterprises to engage in organic agriculture, the lease term can be extended to more than 10 years, and rent can be reduced by 40%.
According to statistics from the Council of Agriculture, as of the end of April this year, Taiwan's organic planting area reached 8,956 hectares, accounting for more than 1% of the total cultivated land area, including 2,946 hectares of rice, 2,814 hectares of vegetables, 1,440 hectares of fruit, 410 hectares of tea, and 1,344 hectares of other categories such as miscellaneous grains and specialty crops.
The goal of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act is to increase the area of organic and eco-friendly agriculture to 80,000 hectares 8 years after implementation. Hu Chung-yi, Director-General of the Agriculture and Food Agency, said that if the area of organic and eco-friendly agriculture reaches 80,000 hectares in year 116 of the Republic of China, that would account for 10% of the total cultivated land area. Recently, the Northern Region Branch also launched the "Introductory Manual for Organic and Eco-friendly Environment Farming and Cultivation," hoping to help farmers who want to get started with organic farming. Huang Chun-chin, head of the Agricultural Materials Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency, explained that the organic planting area reached about 9,000 hectares in the first half of the year. This year's short-term goal is to reach 13,500 hectares by the end of the year, and 15,000 hectares in year 109 of the Republic of China. The Agriculture and Food Agency will allocate more than 1 billion yuan each year to promote organic agriculture, hoping for an annual growth of 10% in organic planting area.
Huang Chun-chin stated that the key points of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act include "organic equivalence," which means that 1 year after implementation, Taiwan will no longer recognize the organic labels of countries that have not signed mutual recognition of organic certification with Taiwan for products shipped to Taiwan.
In addition, as of April this year, domestic eco-friendly farming covered 3,237 hectares. Eco-friendly farming in the transition period before becoming organic agriculture is also subject to regulation under the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act. The Act stipulates that if organic agricultural products and organic transitional agricultural products contain prohibited substances, but farmers can prove that necessary protective measures have been taken and the competent authority determines it to be pollution from neighboring fields, farmers will not be penalized. The Act also states that for minor violations such as labeling, improvement within a set deadline is sufficient.
Huang Chun-chin said that the parent Act also explicitly provides for "lease term protection" and "rent discounts." According to the sub-regulation "Regulations on Discounts for Leasing Public Land or Land Owned by State-Run Enterprises for Organic Agriculture Use," when leasing public land or land owned by state-run enterprises, the managing authority shall give the lessee a lease term guarantee of at least 10 years and no more than 20 years. There are also rent discounts, requiring only 60% of the lease contract amount, and the same discount can be enjoyed when applying for a lease renewal upon expiration. Huang Chun-chin pointed out that in addition to cooperating with Taiwan Sugar Corporation to release more organic farmland, more organic agriculture zones will be introduced in the future to provide organic farmers with land for cultivation.
According to the sub-regulation "Regulations on Rewards and Subsidies for Organic Agriculture," land that has obtained organic transitional certification can receive rewards and subsidies ranging from 60,000 yuan to 240,000 yuan per hectare per year depending on different uses, with the maximum reward and subsidy period for the same land being 3 years. Land that has obtained organic certification can apply for "ecological conservation maintenance rewards," receiving rewards ranging from 30,000 yuan to 240,000 yuan per year depending on different agricultural products. Land under eco-friendly farming can also apply for ecological conservation maintenance rewards, receiving 30,000 yuan per hectare per year, with the maximum reward period for the same land being 3 years. Huang Chun-chin said he hopes this regulation will encourage eco-friendly farmers to transition to organic cultivation.
The Organic Agriculture Promotion Act explicitly stipulates that the Council of Agriculture shall regularly propose organic agriculture promotion plans. Huang Chun-chin said that the organic agriculture promotion plan is currently being drafted by commissioned experts and scholars and is scheduled to be proposed by the end of the year, at which time there will be more detailed promotion measures and budget allocations.
