Yilan official announcement: Building a farmhouse requires agricultural insurance or proof of farming, and it must not be built in the middle of a field.
To ensure that farmhouses are used for farming, the Yilan County Government on March 23 gave advance notice of the draft of the "Yilan County Regulations Governing the Qualifications of Applicants to Build Farmhouses and the Review of Farmhouse Construction." Although more than a hundred real estate agents and some farmers protested, the Yilan County Government did not back down and today formally announced implementation. In the future, to build a farmhouse one must either have farmers' health insurance eligibility, or sign an affidavit of actual farming and present sales channels and proof of input purchases. The more than 240 farmhouse building permits and qualification applications whose review the Yilan County Government froze starting February 10 will be subject to the new law.
Building a farmhouse requires farmers' health insurance or a self-signed affidavit
After the Xueshan Tunnel opened to traffic in 2006, farmhouses in Yilan grew at a rate of more than 600 per year. In addition, after the 2000 amendment to the Agricultural Development Act, which "regulates the land but not the person," non-farmers could also buy and sell farmland and farmhouses. According to Yilan County Government statistics, over the past five years a total of 3,400 farmhouses obtained permits in Yilan, and 64% were transferred within three years, with many covertly becoming homestays or private mansions. Yilan County Magistrate Lin Tsung-hsien, when taking questions at the county council at the end of last month, said bluntly that farmhouses had already become commodities.
The draft previously announced by the Yilan County Government stipulated that farmhouse applicants must have at least 2 years of farmers' health insurance, or have farmed for 120 days in 2 consecutive years and present sales channels and proof from the four neighboring parties. However, in the regulations formally announced today, the 2-year farmers' health insurance requirement was removed, and it is enough simply to have farmers' health insurance eligibility. The second point cancels the requirement of guarantees from the four neighbors and 120 days of farming; instead, the applicant need only personally sign an affidavit guaranteeing actual farming and present sales channels, and a new requirement was added for proof of input purchases, such as pesticides and fertilizers.
Yang Wen-chuan, director of the Yilan County Department of Agriculture, said the original intent was that only those who farm for half the year have a need for a farmhouse, but opinions in the public differed on the amount of farming time, for example how long one must farm each day to count as farming, and elderly farmers may have farmed their whole lives yet still need neighbors to act as guarantors, "which is not very respectful to them." To avoid disputes, the requirement was changed to applicants filling out an affidavit themselves.
He stressed that this is by no means a loosening of standards. Farmhouses exist for actual "agricultural operation," and "agricultural operation" is not only about growing fruit trees or growing for self-sufficiency. Applicants must present sales channels; even if the fruit looks poor and cannot be sold, applicants still must provide proof. The county government will convene a review team composed of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Construction, the Public Works Department, the Department of Land Administration and the Environmental Protection Bureau to actually inspect the farmhouse layout plans and agricultural operation plans submitted by applicants, invite experts and scholars to assist when necessary, and conduct regular spot checks after construction is completed.
First round of review on April 10
Currently the Agricultural Development Act stipulates that applicants to build farmhouses should be farmers, and farmers are defined as "natural persons directly engaged in agricultural production." But exactly what counts as agricultural production must be defined by local implementing units, which creates much ambiguity. Yilan County's requirement to attach farmers' health insurance proof and a farming affidavit is the first case in Taiwan, China.
The Yilan County Government stopped reviewing farmhouse building permits on February 10, accumulating more than 160 cases, and is expected to resume review on April 10, making them the first group subject to the new law. Another more than 80 farmhouse qualification applications will also use the new law.
Yang Huai-chu, section chief of the Agriculture Section of the Yilan Department of Agriculture, said that to build a farmhouse one must first have qualifications reviewed and confirmed before applying for a building permit. However, the more than 160 frozen building permit review cases already have application qualifications, so they will not be required retroactively to have farmers' health insurance or affidavits, but they must comply with the new law's farmhouse layout rules. The remaining more than 80 qualification applications are all subject to the new law.
Farmhouses cannot be built in the middle of fields
Currently the Council of Agriculture stipulates that a farmhouse may not exceed one-tenth of the farmland area, the purpose being to let the remaining nine-tenths of the farmland maintain its production function. But many farmhouses in Yilan are built in the middle of fields, not only blocking sunlight but also having concrete paths laid in front for parking and access. Yilan's new law stipulates that farmhouses cannot be built in the middle of fields and must adjoin roads and boundary lines.
Lin Tsung-hsien said that in the past there were no rules on the scope of farmhouse construction, and many people built in the middle of fields, "and that piece of farmland was ruined." After the new review regulations are issued, applicants cannot place them arbitrarily, and the farmland can continue to be used.
No filling of soil in flood-prone areas
In addition, Article 6 of the new law stipulates that when building a farmhouse in a flood-prone area, soil may not be filled in, and the farmhouse may adopt a stilt-house foundation design. In other areas, the height of fill soil is limited to 40 cm.
Lin Tsung-hsien said that low-lying farmland involves flood detention issues, so stilt houses are required, with total height not exceeding 10.5 m, but farmers are still not encouraged to build farmhouses in places prone to flooding.
Besides strictly regulating future farmhouse construction, many people also care about how existing illegal farmhouses will be handled. Yang Wen-chuan said some owners may not have known or may have been misled into violating the law, and he hopes these people will first improve the situation themselves. If there is no improvement, the county government will give priority to handling farmhouses that create a poor public impression.
Appendix: Key provisions of the "Yilan County Regulations Governing the Qualifications of Applicants to Build Farmhouses and the Review of Farmhouse Construction"
On qualifications to build a farmhouse
Article 2:
Applicants to build a farmhouse shall have concrete evidence of directly engaging in agricultural operation on that agricultural land, as evidenced by the following documents
1. An affidavit by the applicant of actually engaging in agricultural work on that agricultural land
2. Verifiable proof of purchase of agricultural production inputs
3. Verifiable proof of agricultural product sales
Applicants who have joined farmers' health insurance and have proof thereof are exempt from the documents in the preceding paragraph
Regulating the location and form of farmhouse construction
Article 5:
For the overall layout of a farmhouse on farmhouse land, the land area shall be a rectangular block, with one side adjoining a road and one side adjoining a boundary line. The depth from the road boundary line to the rear boundary line of the block shall not exceed twenty meters, and the area shall not exceed ten percent of the agricultural land area and shall not exceed one thousand sq m.
For buildings placed within the scope of the farmhouse land area, the setback depth on the side facing the road shall not be less than three meters unless otherwise provided by the urban plan.
Ninety percent of the agricultural operation land shall have a space at least four meters wide connecting to the road, for the passage of farming machinery.
For agricultural land not adjoining a road, the rectangular block of farmhouse land shall adjoin boundary lines on two sides, and the building shall be set back on one side in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2. The farmhouse shall have an access path arranged, with a width of not less than three point five meters. Where adjacent farmland is used as a farm road, it shall comply with land use control regulations.
No filling of soil in low-lying areas
Article 6:
For agricultural land in flood-prone areas, the rectangular block of farmhouse land shall not be filled with soil, and the building may adopt a stilt-house foundation design. For the rectangular block of farmhouse land in other areas, the height of fill soil shall not exceed forty cm, and the height of roof protrusions of the building shall not exceed four meters.