Chiayi County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan slams the central government over drought response and agricultural water restrictions, calling it brutal
Yesterday the Ministry of Economic Affairs invited the Council of Agriculture to hold a drought-response meeting, where it was decided to expand the area of suspended irrigation and fallowing for the first crop of next year to Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Chiayi and other places, sparking dissatisfaction among local governments. Chiayi County Magistrate Zhang Huaguan was the first to fire away today, attacking the central ministries for their crude approach of expanding fallowing, having failed to consult local governments at all, and seriously exposing an attitude of disregard for agriculture.
Yesterday the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs decided to expand the area of suspended irrigation and fallowing for the first crop of next year; with the parts of Miaoli and Taichung announced last week, plus Hsinchu, Taoyuan and Chiayi County newly added yesterday, the affected area reaches as much as 41,000 hectares, the second largest in history.
Chiayi County Magistrate Zhang Huaguan was the first to fire at the central government today, attacking the Ministry of Economic Affairs' crude decision on full fallowing of rice paddies, which failed to take farmers' rights and interests into consideration. The Chiayi County Government expresses deep anger, and what is even more heartbreaking is what role the Council of Agriculture actually played in this decision-making process, whether it defended farmers' rights and interests or was pushed along by the Ministry of Economic Affairs?
Zhang Huaguan said that for a long time, in the handling of water resource allocation, the central government has never thought deeply about what "water supply justice" means, mandatorily requiring rice paddies to be fallowed. This move will cause the suspended irrigation area in Chiayi County to reach 7,892 hectares, an affected area of 43%, yet the central government only wants to fob farmers off with meager compensation money. Fallowing does not only hit Chiayi County; the entire Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan region is affected along with it, and these areas are Taiwan's rice granary.
Lin Liangmao, Director of the Agriculture Department of Chiayi County, pointed out that fallowing will simultaneously deal a blow to the rice industry chain; the related seedling operators, contract farming operators, agricultural input operators and rice processing operators can only watch their hard-earned investments go down the drain, with a huge impact on the rural economy.
Zhang Huaguan attacked the central government's fallowing decision this time for having failed to consult agricultural counties such as Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan beforehand at all; the hasty and careless decision thoroughly exposes the ruling authorities' attitude of disregarding agriculture, namely that when agriculture conflicts with other industries, agriculture is the natural sacrifice, which is regrettable and infuriating.