The New Farmer Program has reopened for applications; farmers and corporate entities may submit applications at any time.
The key points of the Rural Regeneration New Agriculture Demonstration Plan (hereinafter referred to as the "New Rural Regeneration Plan"), regarded as a driver of rural innovation, officially took effect on the 8th of this month. Unlike previous efforts that focused on upgrading rural hardware facilities, the Council of Agriculture emphasized that this demonstration plan, named after new agriculture, will lay out four axes: "improving agricultural competitiveness, enhancing rural living quality and economic diversity, strengthening employment and diverse local capacity, and improving the rural environment and space." Moreover, the plan is no longer limited to rural communities; organizations including colleges and universities, corporate legal persons, and farmers' groups can all submit applications.
Rural Regeneration Plan opens for applications, eligibility broadened, content flexible
This Rural Regeneration Plan differs from previous ones: the responsible unit has shifted from the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau to the Planning Division, and the annual plans to be submitted are now handled by local governments. In response, Huang Chen-te, Deputy Director of the Planning Division of the Council of Agriculture, stated that the main purpose of the changes in this Rural Regeneration New Agriculture Demonstration Plan is to increase flexibility. For example, planning proposals used to be submitted at the beginning of the year, but now there is no such restriction; as long as the workflow of applying three months in advance is followed, it is fine. In addition, Huang also pointed out that handing the annual plan over to local governments is meant to let localities play an integrative role, no longer limited to a single village or community, so that the development of an entire block can be planned comprehensively.
He also stated that applicants for the new Rural Regeneration Plan are no longer limited to rural communities. As long as they can enhance agricultural competitiveness, community organizations, colleges and universities, farmers' groups, government agencies, or corporate legal persons can all apply, and there is no restriction to a single theme; cross-axis plans can be proposed, making it even more flexible.
As for the subsidy amounts that the public is concerned about, Huang pointed out that a committee will be convened to review based on the needs of the plan content. The subsidy ceiling for a single plan is 10 million yuan per year, but for plans under the two categories of "rural living quality and economic diversity" and "improving the rural environment and space," the subsidy period can be up to three years.
The four major items of the Rural Regeneration Plan
As for the main items of this new Rural Regeneration Plan, according to the key points, there are four major focuses:
1. Improving agricultural competitiveness axis: focuses on investment in the operating environment and human capital to strengthen product competitiveness, emphasizing development issues such as knowledge transfer, innovation, agricultural modernization and product quality improvement, and generational succession in the agricultural sector.
2. Rural living quality and economic diversity axis: emphasizes key points such as capacity building for rural human resources, skills acquisition, and local development strategy planning capability. Based on the needs of rural women, rural youth, and elderly farmers, it provides education and training, information services, and incentives for enterprise operation, in order to increase rural attractiveness to future generations.
3. Improving the rural environment and space axis: focuses on integrating and developing environmental plans and land management measures, hoping to generate positive development benefits through the spatial distribution of rural economic activities and regional cohesion.
4. Employment and diverse local capacity building axis: proposed plans should adopt as implementation strategies area-based development strategies, establishing public-private partnerships, bottom-up organization of local action groups, cross-sector action plans, innovation-oriented thinking, implementation of cooperative plans, and networking of local partners.
The Council of Agriculture emphasized that although no one has yet submitted an application, proposers with relevant experience can use the "Rural Regeneration Fund Plan Management System" to submit proposals, and members of the public who are interested are also welcome to fill in the information online.