COA Minister Chen Chi-chung Inspects First Rice Crop Fallow Subsidy Applications in Chiayi County

The first rice crop in the Chiayi-Nan area will be suspended next year due to a water shortage crisis. Fallow compensation applications will be accepted from December 1 to 20. On the morning of the 2nd, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung visited the Irrigation Agency's Lucao Township Work Station in Chiayi County to understand the farmers' application situation. Minister Chen Chi-chung stressed that the public grain reserve of rice is sufficient to supply 8 months, and that those in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the industry chain affected by the fallow policy can all be compensated.

On the 2nd, Minister Chen Chi-chung, accompanied by Chiayi County Magistrate Weng Chang-liang and others, visited Lucao Township in person to understand the fallow subsidy application situation and chatted with farmers. Minister Chen Chi-chung said that both the President and the Executive Yuan have instructed that the subsidy must be higher than the income from growing rice, at least NT$82,000 or more per hectare, and that it will definitely be distributed to farmers before the Lunar New Year. Farmers said the compensation terms were good, and asked who else to blame but the heavens for not sending rain.

Some farmers raised the issue of compensation for the industry chain. Minister Chen Chi-chung stressed that as long as those in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the industry affected by the irrigation suspension, including seedling nurseries, rice husk drying, pesticide, fertilizer, and contract farming operators, have concrete losses, they can all be compensated. As for agricultural machinery operators who asked whether they must join a mechanical cultivation association to receive compensation, he pointed out on the spot that the officials accompanying him would help the operators solve the problem.

He also called on people across the country to eat more domestically produced rice. He said that the current public grain reserve plus the second rice crop harvest will not be a problem, and that rice is plentiful. In particular, the price of wet grain has already risen to more than NT$1,000 per 100 Taiwan jin. A family of 4 in Taiwan spends an average of NT$600 a month on white rice; if the price rises by 10 percent, that is only NT$60 more a month, or just NT$2 more a day on average. But that 10 percent is very important to farmers, as it can help rice farmers stabilize their livelihoods. He asked everyone to eat more domestically produced rice.

The Lucao Work Station of the Irrigation Agency's Chiayi-Nan Management Office has jurisdiction over an area of 2,127 hectares, of which 1,338.69 hectares are affected by the suspension of the first rice crop.