The welfare for the farmers and fishermen is one of the government's focal efforts. The welfare programs were set based on related administrative orders and regulations. They include old-age farmers' welfare allowance, scholarships for the farmers' and fishermen's children, natural disaster aid, fishermen rescuing at marine accidents, and redressing the damage of agri-products caused by imports .

1. Improving welfare and rescue in agriculture and fishery

1) To care for senior farmers and fishermen, the old-age farmers' welfare allowance was originally set at NT$3,000/month in 2004. It was increased to NT$4,000/month in 2005, and then to NT$5,000/month in 2006. During 2006, the total payment for the old-age farmers' welfare allowance reached NT$41.23 billion. For the period from 1995 to 2006, the accumulated payment for the old-age farmers' welfare allowance reached NT$273.1 billion, which benefited 982,544 farmers and fishermen.

2) In line with the government's policy to care for the students of less-privileged groups, starting from 2003, the COA has been providing scholarships for children of farmers and fishermen to enable them to attend regular high schools, vocational schools or universities. During 2006, the scholarship payment reached NT$1.877 billion, which benefited 274,000 farmers and fishermen.

3) To ease the burden of losses and to facilitate the farmers and fishermen to get back to the normal production after occurrence of major natural disasters, the COA immediately announced stricken areas, agricultural commodities that were eligible for compensations, and type and amount of relief. The relief included cash relief, subsidies, and low-interest loans. During 2006, the total of cash relief and subsidies reached NT$336.9 million that benefited 13,222 farmers and fishermen. The low-interest loans and interest subsidies reached NT$52.81 million and NT$74.55 million, respectively.

4) Taiwan fishermen offshore operations insurance, which went into effect in 2006, covers also rescue of fishermen faced with marine accidents. The insured amount for death and missing was raised from NT$0.65 million to NT$1 million, and for disabled is in the range of NT$250,000 to NT$500,000. During 2006, 50 claims were paid in a total amount of NT$4.55 million.

2. Redressing the damage of agri-products caused by imports

A total of NT$100 billion was budgeted for redressing the damage of agri-products caused by imports in order to improve the competitiveness of agri-products. This fund helped implementing the paddy and upland utilization adjustment program, and the production adjustment or preventive measures program.

1) The paddy and upland utilization adjustment program focuses on the production adjustment of rice, grain crops and sugarcane, and the rotation with the crops unique to the special regions. The program is to ensure the balance of supply and demand for rice, the maintenance of soil fertility, and the security of a moderate income for the farmers.

2) The production adjustment or preventive measures program is to re-structure the production systems of rice, pig, poultry, cattle, fruit, tea and fishery, to re-adjust the agricultural labor force, to improve animal and plant quarantine management, and to strengthen international marketability of agri-products. The program in some way has mitigated the negative impact on Taiwanese agriculture after Taiwan's entry to the WTO.

3) A forecast system was established for domestic agricultural production and a warning system established for importation to address the challenge of production-marketing imbalances and to stabilize the price of domestic agri-products. In an attempt to reduce the farmers’ losses, the COA has purchased the registered agri-products at 95% of their production cost. These bought products were processed, cold stored, turned into organic fertilizers or fodder, or destroyed. Whenever there was a forecast of glut of certain agri-products, the COA took the preventive measures such as reduced production, sales promotion, maturity regulation, diversion to green manure, and upgrading of crop management. These preventive measures were to avoid the market price of agri-products from dropping below 95% of their production cost. There were gluts for bananas and oranges in 2006, and the COA has effectively stabilized their prices in accordance with the emergency measures for production-marketing imbalances of agri-products. In the same year, on the other hand, there were no cases of price declining of domestic agri-products because of bulk import of their equivalents.