One day before the legislature is expected to complete a review of the controversial amendments to the Agriculture Development Act, the Cabinet yesterday announced a new proposal for farmland management.
The Council of Agriculture (COA,
COA Chairman Lin Shiang-nung (林享能) announced the council's new plan during an interpellation at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, suggesting farmland management should be based on the amount of land available.
Farmland is currently managed by the classification standard of "important farmland," "sub-important farmland" and "preservation area."
According to Lin, there are currently 1.58 million hectares of farmland, including 880,000 hectares of farmland actually used for farming, 510,000 hectares of hillside preservation and forest areas, and 170,000 hectares of unclassified terrain.
COA suggests 160,000 hectares of the 880,000 hectare farmland should be eligible for rezoning from farmland to industrial use.
Lin emphasized that the 160,000 hectare land parcel should be freed up gradually, at the rate of around 4,000 to 6,000 hectares a year.
The proposal stipulates that the land has to be larger than 25 hectares to qualify for a change of land use application.
Also, the change of use has to be related to non-pollutant industries, national major infrastructure construction or the construction of apartment com-plexes.
Lin said that a total of 35,000 hectares of farmland has been released since 1995, and if the new proposal is adopted, a total of 48,000 hectares of farmland is expected to be discharged by the year 2011.
However, Alan Lu (陸雲), an agricultural economics professor at National Taiwan University (
"The current law has more advantages for the farmers considering the overall development of farming production and farmland preservation," Lu said.
"If farmland is allowed only for farming purposes, agricultural production and preservation can remain intact," he said.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
‘INDISCRIMINATE’: The drastic changes would delay many national projects as well as undermine global confidence in Taiwan’s resolve to defend itself, the premier said The Legislative Yuan yesterday on third reading passed the central government budget for this year, cutting 6.6 percent from the Executive Yuan’s proposed expenditure — the largest in history. The budget proposal, which the Cabinet approved in August last year, set government spending at NT$3.1325 trillion (US$95.6 billion), with projected revenues of NT$3.1534 trillion — both record highs — working out to a surplus of NT$20.9 billion. On Friday last week, the opposition-led legislature voted to cut NT$93.98 billion from the budget’s general provisions. During a 20-hour continuous session from Monday until yesterday morning, they continued to slash the budgets of government agencies,
RSS