Taiwan’s agricultural production has slightly increased since Taiwan became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002. Although employment in the agricultural sector has declined since then, agricultural labor productivity has increased significantly. The gross value of agricultural production in 2006 is estimated to be NT$380.3 billion. This is a slight decrease of 0.6% from 2005 but an increase of 7.8% from 2001, the year before Taiwan joined the WTO. Average output per agricultural producer in 2006 was NT$685,000. That is 37% and 6% increase from 2001 and 2005, respectively. Overall speaking, the negative impact of market liberalization did not reach the apprehended level. However, its influences on some sub-sectors need careful examinations.

As for the overall trend of agricultural production and marketing, the agricultural productivity index in 2006 was estimated to be 95.85 (2001 as 100). That's an increase of 1.90% from the previous year. Due to a fair climate in 2006, productions of crops and livestock products such as pig, egg and milk increased. This led to increased crop and livestock productivity indices of 8.35% and 1.44%, respectively. On the other hand, productivity indices for forestry and fishery decreased by 1.10% and 7.27%, respectively. This could be attributed to a reduction of forestry byproducts as well as a reduction of fishery products because of oil price hike, depletion of coastal fishery resources, reduced fishing fleet capacity, and international fishing competition.

As for the agricultural trade, imported agricultural goods were valued at US$9.283 billion in 2006, which a slight decrease of 0.77% from 2005. Major imported commodities included cereals and lumbers, and their byproducts. On the other hand, exported agricultural goods were valued at US$3.299 billion. That’s a reduction of 7.91% from the previous year. One of the reasons for this was a drastic reduction of the tuna catch quota imposed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and Taiwan's efforts to adhere to this imposition by reducing its fleet capacity and enforcing control measures. These efforts have resulted in a reduction of exported fishery products valued at about US$330 million.

As for the price of agri-products, the wholesale price index declined 3.06% from 2005. This could be attributed to decreased incidences of natural disasters, thereby increased productions in 2006. Among different commodities, the price of livestock products and crop products reduced by 8.39% and 3.03%, respectively, whereas the price of forestry products and fishery products increased by 7.82% and 2.70%, respectively.

As for the agricultural labor force, there were 555,000 persons employed in the agricultural sector in 2006. That's 6% decrease from the previous year. Starting from 2001, the year before Taiwan joined the WTO, there has been an annual reduction of about 30,000 job-holders in the agricultural sector. This declining trend could be attributed to the retirement of senior producers from the agricultural sector and the exodus of young people from the rural village. In addition, the global trend of free trade, digitalization of in the various production sectors, and Taiwan's strive to transform and upgrade its agricultural sector have had intensified this trend.