First case in the country of an "organic agriculture zone" being expropriated for an industrial park! Zhongqi farmers: The government has no integrity, ten years of effort down the drain

The case of Tainan's Sweetheart Ranch fighting hard against an industrial park development has drawn attention from the agricultural sector, and at the same time, neighboring Kaohsiung City is also seeing a science park expropriating an organic farm. The victims are the organic farmers of 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 had just obtained organic certification and invested funds, time and effort to improve the land, and some had even just invested money 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 quitting just like that. Isn't this making fools of 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 "Precision Agriculture Health and Excellence Program" to encourage county and city governments to assist in establishing organic zones. Then-Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Qiuxing planned the Zhongqi Organic Zone during his term starting in 2008, with the county government coordinating and leasing from Taiwan Sugar Corporation a farm with a total area of 31 hectares at the junction of Qiaotou and Yanchao. Starting in 2010 it was handed over to the farmers' organization, the "Zhongqi Organic Zone Agricultural Production and Marketing Cooperative," for self-managed operation, and currently more than thirty farming households have moved into the park.

The area where the Zhongqi Organic Zone is located originally belonged to the "Qiaotou New Town" scope. Since its launch in 1994, Qiaotou New Town did not go smoothly and stalled for more than twenty years. In May 2019, Executive Yuan Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai announced the promotion of the "Qiaotou Science Park." To accommodate the return of Taiwanese businesses investing and the needs of the technology industry, more than one thousand hectares of undeveloped land in the later phase of Qiaotou New Town were converted for use as the Southern Taiwan Science Park's Qiaotou Park, and the 31 hectares of the Zhongqi Organic Zone were included among them (the area marked by the red frame in the image).

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

Current cooperative board chairman Yang Dengxu said that after the Qiaotou Science Park case passed, the farmers in the organic zone suddenly fell into deep gloom. Many of them had responded to the government's call ten years ago, joined the farm and devoted 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 case.

"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 after improvements, and just when things are finally about to pay off, the government says it's quitting just like that. Isn't this making fools of 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 this 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 zone would affect the certification of organic products, and the two could probably 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" who exist right here drew no attention at all. 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, making it worth citizens coming close to the land, 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 searching for new land, Zeng Jinzhu asked 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 were constantly released, surrounding farmland prices instantly soared, and farmers already found it very hard to find similar land to cultivate. He believes that such farmland around urban areas waiting for rezoning has in fact long abandoned agriculture, with most of it 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 felt somewhat sad. Luan Piwei, who switched to organic farming in middle age, said entering this trade is not easy: "For the first few years it was almost all giving, soil improvement, funds, spirit and labor, with almost no income, only enough to eat for ourselves. We spent ten years restoring the land, and the soil fertility, ecology and the sounds of insects and birds and animals 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 also 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 then willing to pay a higher price to buy organic products. Part of their consumption is to support this land, to 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 gloom and resentment. Luan Piwei said somewhat helplessly and bitterly, "I feel very lost." Zhuang Qingshun, meanwhile, looked up to the sky and let out a breath, lamenting: "After ten busy years, still no one treats agriculture and the environment as important matters."

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