BackClimate change has a comprehensive impact on our lives. How to adjust social and economic development models to enable people to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to ensure continued survival and development amid extreme weather and the greenhouse effect has become a major focus of the government in formulating climate change response strategies and measures.
According to the Control Yuan’s (CY) audit report of the central government’s general financial statement for 2016, the Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA) under the Council of Agriculture (COA) failed to properly handle crop production forecasting, price monitoring and market regulation. In its investigation report on this matter, the CY’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee requested that the AFA make improvements.
The investigation revealed that for several types of vegetables and sensitive crops, there were major differences between plantation and production targets and the actual outcomes. For example, in 2015, the actual total area planted with banana trees was 14,093 hectares, a significant 28.1% more than the set plantation target; while the actual amount of onions harvested was 64,325 tons, or 42.9% more than the production target. Moreover, the AFA’s early-warning prediction mechanism in place since 2004 served only an advisory role and had no enforcement powers. The investigation report therefore concluded that the AFA should formulate incentive measures aimed at encouraging farmers to work in line with the mechanism, thereby ensuring more effective management of crop yields.
CY members pointed out that the AFA conducts onsite surveys of farmlands to calculate plantation and production targets; however, due to manpower limitations and various other obstacles, including related to terrain, transportation, etc., this approach has been ineffective in terms of keeping up with changes in types of crops planted and in providing up-to-date data for accurate forecasts. In contrast, the Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute (TARI), also under the COA, gets around these transportation and terrain obstacles by using aerial surveys, thereby gathering data over a larger area in less time and with less manpower. Therefore the COA should urge the AFA to integrate, as soon as possible, TARI aerial survey data into its own early-warning prediction mechanism in order to improve its accuracy.
According to the CY members, over the past five years, more than 50% of vegetables grown in Taiwan for local consumption have been traded through wholesale markets, including 17% via the Taipei Wholesale Fruits and Vegetables Market, which therefore has significant influence in setting prices. Imbalances in supply and demand lead to significant price volatility. The AFA should therefore establish multiple distribution channels in order to decentralize trading so as to increase farmers’ income. In addition, the agency should set up a cold chain system as soon as possible in order to better regulate supply-demand imbalances and ensure greater price stability so as to safeguard the livelihood of farmers.
Excellent weather conditions during the first half of this year resulted in bumper harvests of garlic, onions, cabbages, bananas, pineapples and other major crops, which led to gluts and, in turn, plummeting prices. The COA dealt with the problem in its four usual ways – enhanced export promotion, large-scale procurement and storage, stepped-up product processing, and increased sales promotion. However, these are all responses after the fact and do not deal with the problem at its root. In recognition of the tremendous impacts brought about by climate change, the CY will continue with follow-up monitoring of the COA’s efforts in mapping out effective and practical adaption strategies to actively lessen the impact on farmers’ livelihood, and in implementing stabilizing measures to effectively reduce the frequency of supply-demand imbalances.
Source: Control Yuan (CY), Taiwan
