If the farmhouse amendment bill is not passed, how can existing administrative regulations curb farmland speculation?
The Council of Agriculture intends to improve the farmhouse problem, but outside opinions on the newly amended regulations are divided. To avoid controversy, some frontline enforcement officials believe that if the regulations fail to pass, the Council of Agriculture could at least use administrative guidance to clearly state what counts as agricultural use, giving frontline personnel a basis for enforcement and at least deterring some speculators; the Chiayi Agriculture Department, however, believes that as long as existing regulations are implemented, there is no need for major legislative amendments at all.
Define actual farming to deter speculators
The current Agricultural Development Act, as well as the "Regulations for the Construction of Farmhouses on Agricultural Land," both stipulate that applicants for farmhouses must be farmers and that agricultural land must still maintain 90 percent agricultural use, but there is no practical regulation of what exactly counts as agricultural use, leading to luxury farmhouses springing up everywhere. The Council of Agriculture plans to amend the law to require that only those with farmers' insurance, third-category national health insurance, or who actually farm can build farmhouses, and that when a farmhouse is transferred, the buyer must be a farmer.
Although the amendment has been applauded by many young farmers, local governments believe the policy lacks communication. Lin Liang-mao, director of the Chiayi Agriculture Department, criticized the Council of Agriculture for making major legislative amendments, yet it is local governments that enforce the law, and they were never consulted at all. "This is a major policy!" Local governments have no money and no staff, and the definition of "those actually engaged in farming" is vague and unclear, increasing the difficulty of frontline enforcement. In fact, there is no need to amend the law at all; as long as the definition of what counts as actual farming is made clear and local governments enforce it strictly, land speculation can be deterred.
He believes that each place has its own agricultural problems: farmhouses are rampant in Yilan, illegal factories are serious in Taichung, and prime agricultural land in the south is planted with solar panels. Since the government has given each place autonomy, it should return to each county and city managing its own affairs and carry out enforcement.
