In 1995, aiming to help aging farmers, the ROC government passed the Provisional Act Governing the Welfare Allowance for Elderly Farmers. Under this Act, the government issues a Welfare Allowance (also called a “pension”) to farmers who are at least 65 years old and who meet eligibility requirements. Two main problems have arisen:

One of the eligibility requirements for the Welfare Allowance is that a farmer must be a participant for six months in the Farmers Health Insurance (FHI) program (which was launched in 1989). Given that the requirement was set too low, some non-farmers have bought farmland and farmed it for a very brief period, enabling them to meet the six-month FHI requirement and qualifying them for the Welfare Allowance. This is unfair to genuine long-term farmers and creates a misallocation of COA resources.

Some persons receiving the Welfare Allowance are in fact long-time residents of foreign countries. It is unreasonable that they should receive a subsidy from the government of Taiwan.

To deal with these two problems, and ensure the realization of the legislative intent of the Act—to help elderly farmers who had worked the land for most of their lives and were now getting too old to do so—the COA began to collect views from experts and scholars, farmers’ associations, and various sectors of society, and we ultimately built a consensus around the following reforms: (a) Raising the number of years a farmer must participate in FHI to gain eligibility for the pension (and, for fishermen, the number of years an individual must be a Type A member of a Fishermen’s Association); and (b) Halting payment of the pension to persons residing abroad. The main points of the proposed reforms are:

1. The requirement for FHI participation (or Type A Fishermen’s Association membership) will be raised from six months to 15 years.

2. Persons already drawing the pension prior to the coming into effect of these rule changes will not be affected in any way.

3. Persons who, prior to the coming into effect of the new rules, have joined FHI, and will at age 65 have been participating in FHI for more than six months but less than 15 years, will receive half the Welfare Allowance (i.e. NT$3,500 per month). When their FHI participation reaches 15 years, they will receive the full NT$7,000.

4. Persons can receive the pension only if: (a) they have their legal domicile in Taiwan, and (b) they have stayed more than 183 days per year in Taiwan for each of the preceding three years.

These proposed changes will ensure that the legislative intent of the Welfare Allowance is realized. They also provide suitable assistance to persons who only started farming later in life and have joined the FHI. If these changes come into effect, it is estimated that NT$46 billion will be saved over the first 15 years. The plan devotes this money to: (a) assisting in the acquisition of facilities and equipment for production and marketing of agro-products, and (b) improving food safety, both in the production process and in post-production oversight. By applying our limited budget to the places where it will be most effective, the COA is helping genuine farmers, as well as upgrading the competitiveness of Taiwan’s agro-products.

In order to make these rule changes, the Legislative Yuan will have to amend Article 3 of the Provisional Act Governing the Welfare Allowance for Elderly Farmers. The Executive Yuan drafted the necessary amendment and sent it to the legislature on November 8, 2013, for deliberation.

The COA has also adopted a number of new measures to ensure that persons who sign up for FHI are genuinely working the land. These include:(1) When a new applicant applies to join the FHI program, an official from their local town hall, accompanied by a COA representative, must personally visit and inspect the individual’s farm. (2) New staff have been added to the civil service to review qualifications for the FHI program. (3) A standard mechanism for review and approval of FHI qualifications has been established. (4) The COA will create a database for welfare policies for farmers, which will make the process of reviewing FHI applications much more efficient.