FOOD FOR THOUGHT:The DPP has sought to highlight the strategic importance of agriculture in its policy formulation and legislative proposals, Su Jia-chyuan said
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has failed to deliver on his pledge to improve farmers’ lives and increase the competitiveness of Taiwan’s agricultural products, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is ready to turn things around, the DPP said yesterday.
Ma did not achieve his “6-3-3” campaign pledge of 2008 — annual GDP growth of 6 percent, unemployment of less than 3 percent and a per capita income of US$30,000 — and he will fail to raise the annual income of farming households to NT$1 million (US$33,875) by next year, DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said.
The DPP’s proposal of a NT$1,000 monthly subsidy for elderly farmers was also blocked by Ma and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the legislature, Su, who is the party’s vice presidential candidate, told a press conference on agricultural policy.
“Ma should apologize for letting down 3 million farmers and 720,000 farming households in Taiwan,” he said.
Statistics from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed that average annual income of farming households last year was NT$885,000, less than NT$941,000 in 2006 and NT$937,000 in 2007, when the DPP was in power.
The DPP has sought to highlight the strategic importance of agriculture in its policy formulation and legislative proposals, a glaring distinction from the KMT, Su said.
The subsidy was proposed because increased salaries for public servants and higher veterans’ subsidies have been approved and there is no reason to ignore farmers, whose average age is 64, Su said.
The DPP tried to establish Taiwanese Agricultural Standards (TAS), which highlights traceability to improve quality and competitiveness of local farm produce, but the initiative was abandoned by the Ma administration, he said.
Taiwan’s agricultural development is in dire straits in the face of global competition, said Wu Ming-ming (吳明敏), a professor at National Chung Hsing University and one of the authors of the DPP’s agricultural policy.
Taiwan’s agricultural imports increased from US$10.05 billion in 2009 to US$12.76 billion last year, while exports went up from US$3.21 billion in 2009 to US$3.97 billion last year, Wu said, adding that the numbers were cause for concern.
The DPP’s policy would be to increase farming household incomes by identifying those “strategic agricultural products” with a competitive edge, establishing the TAS, promoting organic agriculture, and improving food security and farmers’ welfare, Wu said.
“The ultimate goal is to improve the competitiveness of our products over low-priced products from China and Southeast Asian countries, and to make local products the consumer’s choice over those from New Zealand and the US,” he said.