Detailed Explanation of the Organic Agriculture Act: Organic Agricultural Product Equivalency Agreements and Signing Dates
The Organic Agriculture Promotion Act, announced at the end of May last year, officially took effect on May 30 this year after its various subsidiary regulations were gradually completed. On the eve of the new law's official implementation, the Council of Agriculture held a press conference, pledging to achieve the goal of making the nation's agriculture organic. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung specifically mentioned "organic equivalency certification," stating that in the future, only countries that have completed organic equivalency recognition with our country will be able to sell organic agricultural products to Taiwan, with a buffer period of 1 year; currently, our country's discussions with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, India and other countries are progressing relatively quickly and are expected to be signed successively in June and July, while other countries also have a strong willingness to negotiate with our country.
Our country currently has not obtained organic equivalency recognition from other countries, and domestic organic agricultural products cannot be exported under the name "organic." In order to negotiate trade normalization and enable our country's organic agricultural products to be exported under the name "organic," the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act explicitly stipulates that countries that have not completed the signing of bilateral organic equivalency treaties, agreements or other official agreed documents with our country before May 30, 2020, recognizing our country's organic certification, will no longer be able to export their organic agricultural products to our country under the name "organic."
The Agriculture and Food Agency stated that 22 countries, including the European Union and the United States, that have already exported organic agricultural products to Taiwan are actively engaging with our country on organic equivalency recognition, and Japan, India, Paraguay and other countries are also in negotiations. Among them, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and India, which are progressing the fastest, are expected to sign successively in June and July, which also means that our country's organic agricultural products are expected to be exported to these countries. If organic equivalency has not been signed between countries and they still want to sell organic agricultural products to Taiwan, they must go through an organic certification body accredited by the Council of Agriculture to conduct certification in that country, or a foreign organic certification body must be accredited by the Council of Agriculture before importation, and the products must be sold under the name "organic."
In addition to organic equivalency, the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act also incorporates related incentive and subsidy measures into its provisions. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung said that in addition to subsidies ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 yuan depending on the type of agricultural product for organic cultivation, the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act also includes eco-friendly farming within its scope. As long as it is recognized as eco-friendly farming, one can receive an annual incentive payment of 30,000 yuan per hectare. Chen Chi-chung stated that in addition to incentives, there are also subsidies for organic fertilizer and biological control materials needed for cultivation, with certification fees subsidized up to 90%, and if state-owned land is leased for organic farming, the rent is also discounted to 60%.
Chen Chi-chung said that farmers should be encouraged to engage in organic production, and organic agricultural product channels such as school nutritional lunches should continue to be expanded. Schools in New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Hualien County, Pingtung County and Yilan County use organic vegetables or organic rice at least once a week for nutritional lunch, with usage already reaching 163 metric tons per week. Starting next semester, Hsinchu County and Taipei City will also follow suit. Chen Chi-chung also said that in addition to school nutritional lunches, the Council of Agriculture also looks forward to cooperating with the national military to increase organic agricultural product consumption, and will establish a platform allowing civil servants to place orders for organic agricultural products, hoping to drive supply through demand.
Tseng Kuo-chi, head of the first Hualien organic rice production and marketing group, has promoted organic cultivation in Hualien for 21 years. He said that promoting organic farming in the past was very difficult, and conflicts even arose with neighboring fields due to reasons such as contamination from adjacent fields. The Organic Agriculture Promotion Act explicitly stipulates that organic farmers who suffer collateral damage will not be penalized. As long as farmers implement necessary protective measures such as hedgerows and buffer zones, they will not be penalized because their agricultural products are contaminated by neighboring fields. Tseng Kuo-chi also said that the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act explicitly stipulates that the competent authority may promote organic agricultural products, and that the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Education and others have expressed willingness, which is expected to drive production through demand. After organic equivalency is signed, the export of organic agricultural products can also be strengthened, encouraging farmersto be morewilling to expand production area,.
The Organic Agriculture Promotion Act also stipulates that the Council of Agriculture shall establish a task force to integrate the guidance resources of various units, and is expected to propose an "Organic Agriculture Promotion Plan" this year, setting out implementation guidelines for the promotion goals and development plans of organic agriculture, with rolling reviews every 4 years.
Hu Chung-yi, Director-General of the Agriculture and Food Agency, said that according to Council of Agriculture statistics, as of the end of April this year, the domestic organic area had reached 8,957 hectares, and the eco-friendly farming area was 3,237 hectares, totaling 12,194 hectares, accounting for more than 1.5% of the nation's total cultivated land area, "already the first in all of Asia." In recent years, the budget for organic agriculture has been about 1 billion per year. After the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act takes effect this year, a budget of 1.5 billion yuan is prepared to promote organic and eco-friendly farming. It is expected that by the end of next year, the combined organic and eco-friendly cultivation area will reach 15,000 hectares, and starting the year after, it will be promoted with a target of 10% annual growth.
On the eve of the new law's official implementation, the Council of Agriculture held a press conference, pledging to achieve the goal of making the nation's agriculture organic.
On the eve of the new law's official implementation, the Council of Agriculture held a press conference, pledging to achieve the goal of making the nation's agriculture organic.
