Peanut price support purchase: The central government calls out the five major production areas of Yunlin; farmers' associations divided, who do farmers turn to?

In Yunlin, where peanut cultivation accounts for more than 70% of Taiwan, China's total production area, November fell into a "peanut turmoil." Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan mistakenly used a "next year's peanut quota royalty bid award notice" to accuse the Council of Agriculture of still allowing peanut imports in November, and this "bid award notice" was then sensationalized by some as the "imported peanut price," triggering panic in the production areas.

To stabilize peanut production and marketing order and let production-area prices stop falling and rebound, the Council of Agriculture rolled out a guaranteed-price purchase policy of NT$67 per kilogram (NT$40 per catty). Yunlin's top five peanut production areas: Yuanchang, Tuku, Dongshi, Huwei, and Beigang farmers' associations, responded to the policy with differing attitudes. The farmers' associations named by the central government as uncooperative all protested their innocence, pointing out that funding, storage, and distribution channels are the three major problems. The farmers' associations want to help but lack the means; some farmers' associations took an "easygoing" attitude, saying there is no upper limit on the purchase quantity, and any farmer in need can contact the farmers' association. (For farmers' voices, please click here)

Yunlin County Government: Hopes the central government will pay attention to the issue of peanut crop failure

In response to Yunlin County Magistrate Chang Li-shan setting off this year's "peanut turmoil," Wei Sheng-te, director of the Yunlin County Government's Department of Agriculture, responded that the county government hopes the central government will pay attention to this year's second-crop peanut crop failure. Considering that this year's peanut harvest has dropped by about 20% and showing sympathy for farmers' hard work, the county government will subsidize NT$2,000 per hectare for the 8,000 hectares of peanut fields under its jurisdiction (note), hoping to help farming friends get through the difficulties.

In addition, Wei emphasized that farmers' associations other than Huwei, Beigang, Yuanchang, and Lunbei "are not unwilling to step in to help," but most farmers' associations do not have that much storage space and lack processing equipment. Subsidies from the Agriculture and Food Agency are limited, and other costs must be absorbed by the farmers' associations themselves. "If the central government coordinates funding in place, storage space, and also helps handle the sales end well, every farmers' association would be willing to help." At present, most farmers' associations participating in purchases are those that were already purchasing and processing peanuts, and even have their own brands, with sufficient processing capacity and distribution channels, but other farmers' associations do not have such conditions, so participating in purchases is indeed difficult.

Tuku Farmers' Association: Storage space is insufficient, and after purchase there is no channel for the peanuts to go

In Tuku Township, with a cultivation area of 1,700 hectares and Tainan No. 14 as the main variety, Chen Te-kai, director of the supply and marketing department of the farmers' association, said that Tuku does not meet the "purchase qualifications." The Agriculture and Food Agency requires purchasing units to be "those with the ability to process and sell the purchased products," while the Tuku Farmers' Association itself lacks storage space and does not do peanut shelling or processing. After purchase, there is even less of a channel for the peanuts to go. "Peanuts are special and need special channels, because those who buy them are not ordinary consumers but food processing plants. In addition, this year's good-product rate is very low, and purchasing operators buying at high prices would not meet costs."

He pointed out that if the farmers' association acts improperly, it could cause the peanut market to collapse. He mentioned that in past years when the garlic market collapsed, the farmers' association intervened to purchase, but unexpectedly garlic traders, seeing that the farmers' association had limited channels and definitely could not sell it all, watched as storage pressure at the farmers' association rose day by day. When it could no longer store more, they slashed prices again and bought in bulk. In the end, the farmers' association could only consider itself unlucky and settle for a loss. "The farmers' association has to be responsible for its own profits and losses. So many employees depend on it for their livelihoods here. Although we have funds from the credit department, that is the members' money and cannot be used at will."

Chen Te-kai said that if the Council of Agriculture can resolve the issues of channels and profit and loss for peanuts after purchase and get the funding in place, the Tuku Farmers' Association is very willing to cooperate with the policy to purchase peanuts.

Dongshi Farmers' Association: Has not entered purchasing, but cooperates as a "registration window"

In Dongshi Township, which similarly mainly cultivates No. 14 oil beans, Chen Hung-fei, director of the extension department, said that the lack of peanut processing equipment and sales channels is the biggest crux after purchase. On the day of the interview, many peanut farmers rushed into the farmers' association, anxiously asking about this purchase policy and registration. Chen Hung-fei explained that although the Dongshi Farmers' Association has not entered purchasing, it will still cooperate with the policy as a "registration window," compiling information on peanut fields that want to participate in the purchase system and submitting it to the Agriculture and Food Agency, which will coordinate relevant farmers' groups to conduct field surveys and purchasing and storage.

When the reporter visited, a farmer surnamed Lin from Dongshi Township had just arrived at the farmers' association to register for purchase and still did not know who the purchasing unit was. Peanuts were spread out in the sun-drying yard on their fourth day. He hoped the Agriculture and Food Agency would send someone quickly to conduct a field survey so he could know whether this batch of peanuts "has anywhere to go at all."

A staff member of the Dongshi Township Farmers' Association said privately that this peanut guaranteed-price purchase policy is very chaotic, and the supporting measures and assistance for purchasing units, as well as the items and quality of purchased peanuts, were all unclear, making it difficult for private units to cooperate. In addition, he pointed out that farmers' associations are clearly the ones with the closest relationship to farmers, but long-term insufficient resources and limited manpower mean that the routine subsidy work farmers' associations must do every day, such as fertilizer subsidies, scholarship applications, and agricultural machinery subsidies, takes up the vast majority of staff time, leaving employees no spare capacity to guide farmers in field management and help open up market channels.

Yuanchang Farmers' Association: Take in as much as possible and hope to drive up market prices

In the peanut factory, Black King Kong (that is, black peanuts) are being roasted. After roasting and manual sorting, each pod is packaged into bags via a conveyor belt. The processing plant behind the Yuanchang Township Farmers' Association operates all day long, and office staff are busy all day as well. Some peanut farmers rush into the farmers' association before they even have time to take off their bamboo hats, asking when their field area can be surveyed, while other farmers also hurry to complete