First "organic agriculture zone" in the country faces expropriation for industrial park development! Farmers: The government has no integrity; ten years of effort down the drain

The case of Tainan's Sweetheart Ranch fighting an industrial park development project has drawn attention from the agricultural sector. At the same time, neighboring Kaohsiung City is also seeing an incident where a science park is expropriating an organic farm. The victims are organic farmers in the "Zhongqi Organic Agriculture Zone" located within the land expropriation area of the Qiaotou Science Park. According to the Construction and Planning Agency's plan, the land leased by Taiwan Sugar Corporation to farmers will no longer be renewed after the lease expires in 2023, and the organic zone will give way to the science park.

After ten years of struggle, many farmers in the organic zone have just obtained organic certification and invested funds, time and effort in improving the land, and some have even just invested capital to build greenhouses. Facing the government's sudden announcement, Yang Dengxu, chairman of the Zhongqi Organic Zone Agricultural Production and Marketing Cooperative, said bitterly, "This approach makes people feel the government has no integrity! So many organic farmers have cultivated here for ten years, and just when things are finally about to pay off, the government says it's done. Isn't this just toying with the farmers?"

Encouraged by the Council of Agriculture, Kaohsiung County planned the Zhongqi Organic Agriculture Zone in 2008

In 2008, the Council of Agriculture launched the "Refined Agriculture Health Excellence Plan" to encourage county and city governments to guide the establishment of organic zones. Then-Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing began planning the Zhongqi Organic Zone during his tenure starting in 2008. With the county government coordinating, a 31-hectare farm at the junction of Qiaotou and Yanchao was leased from Taiwan Sugar Corporation, and from 2010 it was handed over to the farmers' organization "Zhongqi Organic Zone Agricultural Production and Marketing Cooperative" for independent operation. Currently, more than 30 farming households have moved into the park.

The site of the Zhongqi Organic Zone originally belonged to the "Qiaotou New Town" area. Qiaotou New Town had not proceeded smoothly since its launch in 1994 and stalled for more than 20 years. In May 2019, Executive Yuan Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai announced the promotion of the "Qiaotou Science Park." To meet the needs of returning Taiwanese investment and the technology industry, more than 1,000 hectares of land in the later undeveloped phase of Qiaotou New Town were converted for use as the Southern Taiwan Science Park's Qiaotou Park, including the 31 hectares of the Zhongqi Organic Zone (the area marked by the red box in the image).

Cooperative chairman: Ten years of effort all for nothing, "the government is toying with farmers"

Yang Dengxu, current chairman of the board of the cooperative, said that after the Qiaotou Science Park case passed, the farmers in the organic zone immediately fell into gloom. Many had responded to the government's call ten years ago and joined the farm to devote themselves to the organic business. Ten years of dedication is no short time, and now it may all be lost with the launch of the Qiaotou Science Park project.

"This approach makes people feel the government's policy has no integrity! It breaks faith with the farmers. So many organic farmers have cultivated here for ten years, going through the hard transition period from improvement, and just when things are finally about to pay off, the government says it's done. Isn't this just toying with the farmers?" Yang Dengxu said.

At a 2018 coordination meeting held by the Construction and Planning Agency, farmer Liu Guangzhe once cited the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act as a basis, hoping the Qiaotou Science Park plan could preserve the Zhongqi Organic Farm, but was rejected. The Ministry of the Interior's Construction and Planning Agency held that the Zhongqi farm land lease (2018.1.20-2023.1.19) predated the promulgation of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act (2019.5.31) and therefore did not apply, and the agency also held that the existence of an organic zone next to an industrial area would affect the certification of organic products, and the two could likely not coexist.

With the designation of the science park, surrounding farmland prices soared

In contrast to the arrival of the science park, which the central government proclaimed and for which local government, industry and academia formed a promotion committee to express welcome, the "organic farmers" existing here have been completely ignored. Farmer Zeng Jinzhu, who grows flowers, plants and medicinal herbs, said he "feels deceived by the government": "The decision-makers have no respect for what organic farmers have put into this land. In heavily polluted Kaohsiung City, being able to restore ecology and vitality to a piece of land is worth it for citizens to get close to the land. This is a city's green asset. Organic agriculture being forced to give way to a science park makes the garden city policy nothing but a slogan."

In search of new land, Zeng Jinzhu inquired around and found that since news of the Qiaotou Science Park was released, all kinds of land speculation information began to circulate, fake transactions and fake news kept being released, and surrounding farmland prices instantly soared, making it already very difficult for farmers to find similar land to cultivate. He believes that such farmland around urban areas waiting for rezoning had actually long abandoned agriculture, with most waiting for the land value appreciation benefits after development.

Organic farmer: "After ten busy years, still no one treats agriculture and the environment as important matters."

Upon learning that Taiwan Sugar Corporation will not renew the lease in the future, organic farmers Zhuang Qingshun and Luan Piwei in the zone were somewhat sad. Luan Piwei, who switched to organic farming in midlife, said entering this line is not easy: "For the first few years it was almost all input - soil improvement, capital, spirit and labor - with almost no income, only enough to feed ourselves. We spent ten years restoring the land, and soil fertility, ecology and the sounds of insects, birds and animals all came back one by one. The whole garden is full of ecology and full of the pulse of life. It is these processes that kept us going."

Zhuang Qingshun believes the organic farm still has many intangible social assets, and these cannot easily be replaced by moving elsewhere: "Many people have come to the organic farm and become our friends. Having experienced how agricultural production can coexist with the ecological environment, consumers are willing to pay a higher price for organic products. Part of their consumption is to support this land and support ecology."

They believe that when they responded to the government's call back then, they came to the Zhongqi Organic Zone with enthusiasm to break new ground, and today the government says it is gone just like that, leaving them full of depression and resentment. Luan Piwei said somewhat helplessly and bitterly, "I feel very lost." Zhuang Qingshun took a deep breath toward the sky and lamented: "After ten busy years, still no one treats agriculture and the environment as important matters."

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