Tenant farmer Wang Wencai hopes the government will guarantee the income of actual cultivators

Controversy over the suspension of irrigation and fallowing continues. Besides dealing a heavy blow to the important northern granaries of Taoyuan and Hsinchu, in Chiayi County, which is agriculture-based, the area affected by the irrigation suspension this time reached nearly 8,000 hectares, accounting for 43% of Chiayi County's farmland area. Chiayi County Magistrate Zhang Huaguan sharply criticized the situation, saying that Wushantou Reservoir supplies both Tainan and Chiayi, but because Tainan has the Southern Taiwan Science Park it did not have its water cut off, while Chiayi sits at the tail end of the water supply yet has to bear an unfair water supply policy. Although the Council of Agriculture compensates irrigated-suspension areas with NT$85,000 per hectare, it stresses that landlords and tenant farmers must coordinate among themselves, and it has not taken care of those who actually farm.

Although the Council of Agriculture compensates irrigated-suspension areas with NT$85,000 per hectare, it stresses that landlords and tenant farmers must coordinate among themselves. An old farmer surnamed Wang Wencai living in Taibao, upon first hearing the news of the irrigation suspension, anxiously wrote a thousand-character petition to the county government, because all eight jia of his family's land is held under oral lease, and he cannot receive any compensation money. The family of six not only has no income for the whole year, but also has to bear NT$50,000 to NT$60,000 in tractor maintenance costs.

Earlier, the Agriculture and Food Agency had said that if there was a dispute over the compensation money, it could be coordinated as a special case. However, after the Chiayi County Agriculture Department received the old farmer's petition, it reported it to the Agriculture and Food Agency, which asked the county government to inquire with the Southern Region Branch. But the Southern Region Branch responded that it could not coordinate, and they kicked the issue back and forth, leaving farmers not knowing where to turn.

Wang Wencai emphasized that farmers are not coveting the compensation money, but hope the government will establish a complete system to avoid disputes happening again and again, so that farmers can farm with peace of mind. NewsMarket especially used a first-person method to let Wang Wencai tell his own story.

(The following is the self-account of tenant farmer Wang Wencai, compiled by NewsMarket reporter Lin Huizhen)

All 8 jia under irrigation suspension, family of six has no income for the whole year

I started farming in my teens, but my own family only had a few fen of land. Now I farm 8 jia in total, all near Taibao, mostly under oral lease with no contract signed. Besides the harvester, we have our own rice transplanter and machines for spraying pesticide and fertilizer. Last year I spent more than NT$2 million on a new tractor, all from living frugally and borrowing from friends, without taking a loan from the farmers' association.

My son originally worked outside, and after having two children, a few years ago he came home to farm together in order to be with the kids. He drives the tractor to prepare the land, I drive the rice transplanter, and my wife helps fill in the seedling trays. Spraying pesticide and spreading fertilizer are all done ourselves. We earn our own labor, and occasionally help people nearby prepare land. Usually the first rice crop is more profitable, while the second crop may run into a typhoon, and when luck is bad we even lose money. Still, with two households and six people in the family, ordinarily we got by.

Because we did not sign a contract, this time when the irrigation suspension came, all the compensation money was wired to the landlords' accounts. Some landlords, upon hearing of the NT$85,000 per hectare compensation, have already said they want to take the land back, and we do not know whether they will let us farm it next year. Previously we were also forced to fallow due to water shortages, and had no income for a whole year, but at that time only my wife and I were farming, and my son still earned money outside. Now that my son has come back to farm, it has turned into a family of 6 with no income.