Agricultural insurance decouples people from land and is implemented, and beekeepers are the first to be included in insurance based on the fact that they work in agriculture
The government encourages young people to take up farming, but most young farmers cannot apply for farmer status because they have no land or cannot obtain a land lease. They cannot join farmers' health insurance or farmers' associations, which also means they cannot receive government agricultural subsidies. To respond to the domestic situation, the Council of Agriculture is considering "decoupling people from land." In the future, as long as a person is recognized as actually farming, they can apply for farmers' health insurance. Beekeepers, who have long lacked protection, will be the first to start; they will not be limited by farmland area, and as long as they actually keep bees, they can join farmers' health insurance and apply for cash relief for agricultural natural disasters.
Farmers' health insurance "decoupling people from land": qualification recognition to be handled by regional agricultural improvement stations
The Council of Agriculture pointed out that, for farmers who cannot join farmers' health insurance because they lack documents related to farmland use, relevant provisions will be set out in the "Standards for Recognition and Qualification Review Procedures for Farmers Engaged in Agricultural Work Applying to Participate in Farmers' Health Insurance" (hereinafter referred to as the farmers' health insurance review procedures), including: applicable subjects, qualification conditions, documents to be submitted, declaration and registration, substantive review, and follow-up tracking and verification mechanisms.
At present, the plan is for the council's regional agricultural improvement stations to serve as the executing agencies, handling recognition of applicants' "actual engagement in agricultural work." In the future, applicants who actually engage in agricultural work may use the proof of farming issued by the agricultural improvement stations to apply to the farmers' association with which they are insured to participate in farmers' health insurance. If they meet the relevant provisions of the farmers' health insurance review procedures, they may become insured persons under farmers' health insurance.
How will "pragmatic facts" be recognized? Council of Agriculture: final decision in early January
How will the qualification of "actual engagement in agricultural work" be recognized? Director Zhu Jianwei of the Counseling Office said that several meetings have already been held but there is not yet a final consensus. Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung advocates that "there should be protection from the very beginning of farming," but there are also other opinions holding that only those who "make a living by farming" may receive farmers' health insurance protection. And what does "making a living by farming" mean? Is it recognized by area or by income? In addition, how will "half-farming, half-X" farmers with mixed livelihoods be included? No final decision has yet been made.
Zhu said that Germany, for example, has a three-year observation period and only those confirmed to be farming can obtain farmers' insurance, but there are also opinions that this would be too strict in Taiwan, so it is still under discussion and a conclusion is expected in early January.
Beekeepers with no fixed land cannot join farmers' health insurance; substantive recognition to be adopted in the future
In addition to young farmers being unable to obtain land proof, beekeepers, because they have no substantive farmland, cannot obtain a photocopy of the landowner's land ownership certificate, leaving the beekeepers, most of whom belong to a "nomadic people," in unspeakable hardship.
"We cannot join farmers' health insurance, we are not farmers, and disaster relief does not reach us either." A beekeeper surnamed Lin once told News&Market in an interview that nectar is easily washed away by rain, so when it rains there is no way to collect nectar; typhoons are even more terrifying, as in recent years typhoons have occurred frequently, and one typhoon can nearly destroy all the beehives. And when applying to agricultural authorities for disaster loss subsidies, "if one beehive is completely destroyed, the subsidy is only four or five hundred yuan, and individual applications also have a cap of 45,000 yuan."
The Council of Agriculture stated that it has now established a reporting procedure system for beekeeping. After the farmers' health insurance review procedures are amended and promulgated, beekeepers may report the total number of beehives they keep to the local township (town, city, district) office, and after verification that they actually engage in beekeeping work, they may be exempt from farmland area restrictions and use this to apply to participate in farmers' health insurance and apply for cash relief for agricultural natural disasters.
As for how beekeeping facts will be recognized, Zhu Jianwei said that a letter was previously sent to the beekeepers' association, and the association held that 100 beehives are required to count as "making a living by beekeeping," but some people have responded that the qualification is too strict, and this is also under discussion.