Like all developed countries worldwide, Taiwan faces the problem of the aging of the population and a declining birth rate. The downward slide in labor power creates a crisis of productivity. In order to cope with the decline of the working population, all countries are promoting policies like automated, intelligent (or “smart”), and digital manufacturing, in order to stabilize their productivity and competitiveness. On June 4-5 of 2015, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan convened the “Productivity 4.0: Strategy Review Board Meeting” in an effort to secure consensus on future development. Each ministry and agency then produced its own draft contribution to the “Productivity 4.0 Initiative” (2016-2024), which was approved by the Cabinet on September 17 of 2015. The plan is divided into four main areas: manufacturing, commerce, agriculture, and the basic economic environment.

　　The COA was responsible for drafting the “Agricultural Productivity 4.0” program, which was launched in the fourth quarter of 2015. There are two main strategic orientations: (i) intelligent (or “smart”) production, and (ii) digital services. We are giving priority to the following ten flagship industries: the Phalaenopsis industry; the seedling industry; the mushroom industry; the rice industry; the agricultural facilities industry; the aquaculture industry; the poultry and waterfowl industry; the traceable agro-products industry; the dairy milk industry, and the deep-sea fishing industry.

　　The COA will introduce advanced technologies into these industries such as sensing technology, “Intelligent Robots,” the Internet of Things, and Big Data analysis. Through the promotion of intelligent agricultural production, we aim to (a) lower demand for labor and reduce the burden on workers, (b) provide an outstanding environment for agricultural operations, and (c) innovate high-value and high-quality agricultural operating models.

　　We are also constructing a Big Data platform for intelligent agriculture, which will: (a) add value to digitized production-and-marketing information; (b) prevent imbalances between production and marketing, and (c) upgrade management capabilities for agricultural production and product safety. In addition, through linking production information, we can employ user-friendly interactive technology to provide transparent and convenient digital information services to consumers, improve the production efficiency and capacity of high-quality agriculture, increase the trust level consumers have in agro-product safety, and innovate new models for agricultural operations.