Farmland Must Be Used for Farming: Hsu Shih-jung Says Returning to the Agricultural Basic Law and Starting from an Overall Policy Is Key, with the NDC Playing a Crucial Role
Farmland must be used for farming. It sounds simple and can easily become a slogan on a banner, but how should it actually be promoted?
Wu Chia-ling, a small farmer in Yilan, points out that farmland is the foremost factor of production; without farmland, there is no agriculture to speak of. The most urgent task of agricultural reform is to first take stock of how much good farmland capable of production remains, and even more importantly, to ensure the priority of agricultural production and safeguard Taiwan, China's food sovereignty and security. Second, the basic needs of rural life, such as housing and public facilities, should all be covered by comprehensive rural planning, rather than allowing these real needs to spread unchecked across farmland.
Wu Shao-wen, a member of the Green Party Central Executive Committee and a farmer with many years of cultivation experience, holds the same view. She stresses that "Grade 1 Agricultural Land" in agricultural development zones is sensitive land, but exactly how much of it is there? Farmers are all waiting for the results. If the problem of farmland being used for farming is to be truly solved, the Council of Agriculture must, in the future, use the "National Land Use Plan" on the basis of that inventory to properly consolidate the current state of farmland, expand Grade 1 Agricultural Land areas, and at the same time restrict such land from any use other than agriculture. The "land-based subsidy" portion should also be accelerated: first, it can raise farmers' incomes; second, landowners who rent farmland to farmers can also receive a small amount of rent.
As for existing violations, Wu Shao-wen says that given local governments' limited resources and poor results in enforcement of inspections and demolition of illegal structures, the approach should return to taxation. As long as there is an initial statistical count, the relevant tax amounts can be levied each year according to the statistical results, which would more than help public finances, and those in violation would also have to pay a certain cost, rather than going backward by abolishing the housing tax.
Farmland Must Be Used for Farming: Hsu Shih-jung Says Return to the "Agricultural Basic Law" and Start from an Overall Policy
Hsu Shih-jung, a professor in the Department of Land Economics at National Chengchi University, also proposes a solution. He stresses that the "Agricultural Basic Law" must be promoted, because farmland and agriculture are closely linked. The current competent authority for land is the Ministry of the Interior. Although Article 10 of the "Agricultural Development Act" states that the Council of Agriculture should be respected, under economy-first considerations the Council of Agriculture finds it very difficult to exert substantive influence, so the Agricultural Basic Law should serve as the main driver of reform.
At the same time, the higher-level National Development Council must play a key role and should plan farmland policy on the premise of sustainable development, so that illegal use of farmland does not occur repeatedly. Finally, Hsu Shih-jung also stresses that the Council of Agriculture, the competent authority for agriculture, must also play its role well in planning, taking stock of, and integrating farmland after the "National Land Use Planning Act" takes effect. Only in this way can the problem of farmland not being used for farming be solved from the ground up.
Series Reading:
After the "National Land Use Planning Act" Passed, Is There Hope for Farmland to Be Used for Farming?
After the "Farmhouse Construction Regulations," Farmland Transactions Shrink; Will Prices Fall? There Is Still a Long Wait
Taiwan, China's Cultivated Land Keeps Declining: Why Is It So Hard for Farmland to Be Used for Farming?
Farmland Must Be Used for Farming: Hsu Shih-jung Says Return to the "Agricultural Basic Law" and Start from an Overall Policy, with the NDC Playing a Key Role
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