1.  Promoting agricultural insurance

　　Extreme weather events are happening with increasing frequency across the globe, and major disasters often cause losses to farming, forestry, fisheries, and animal husbandry. In order to assist farmers and fishermen to spread risk and to stabilize the incomes of farmers and fishermen, since 2015 the COA has developed insurance products in accord with the demand for insurance in different areas and the special features of the agricultural crops grown. We have also provided subsidies for premiums, expanded the scope of trial implementation of agricultural insurance, and continued to promote livestock and fishing boat insurance.

　　In order to encourage farmers to participate in agricultural insurance, at present the COA has adopted the method of parallel implementation of two systems: agricultural insurance and natural-disaster relief. We have amended Article 14 of the Agricultural Natural Disasters Relief Regulations and eliminated the provision that when cash relief is approved, subsidies for insurance premiums should be deducted. Besides supplying relief payments when natural disasters occur, the COA also subsidizes premiums paid by farmers for natural disaster insurance or agricultural income insurance.

　　As of the end of 2017, the COA had promoted trial implementation of seven insurance products, including those for Oriental pears (including top-grafting pears), mangoes, custard apples, wet-paddy rice, aquaculture seafood products, grouper, and poultry (specifically, insurance against avian influenza). This marks an increase of five products compared to the end of 2016 (pears and mangoes only). There has also been a clear increase in the number of insurance policies, area of land covered, and insurance amounts. The situation with respect to taking out insurance over the last three years is as follows:

　　In order to reduce operational risks for livestock enterprises, as well as to strengthen management of animal raising and disease prevention, the COA has pro-actively guided farmers to take out livestock insurance. In 2017 8,410,610 hogs were covered by death insurance, of which compensation was paid out for 228,301 head. A total of 1,475,308 hogs were covered by transport death insurance, of which compensation was paid out for 1,501 head. A total of 8,580 dairy cows were covered by death insurance, of which compensation was paid out for 210 head. Also, starting on November 1, 2017, insurance against avian influenza in poultry was offered, marking a new milestone in poultry insurance in Taiwan.

　　To ensure the safety of assets of fishermen operating at sea, in 2017 a total of 7,288 fishing boats (or rafts) benefited from fishing boat insurance, with subsidies reaching NT$50.06 million. Of these, there were 6,262 insured fishing boats (or rafts) under 20 tons. The number of fishing boats that benefited was seven times higher than in 2010.

　　The COA will continue to steadily expand the scope and content of agricultural insurance. Insurance policies currently in development include those for agricultural facilities, bananas, pineapples, papayas, persimmons, wax apples, wendan pomelos, and milkfish. We look forward to enabling farmers to be able to rely on insurance mechanisms to spread risk when facing extreme weather challenges. In the future we will continue to develop new insurance products, establish an operational model for agricultural insurance that fits our national conditions, and construct comprehensive disaster relief and insurance mechanisms for agriculture, in order to reduce the business risks in agriculture and guarantee farmers’ incomes.

2. Refining the farmers’ insurance system

　　Farmers’ health insurance is an occupational social insurance for people whose profession is farming. Those covered should in fact be people who really engage in agriculture and who rely upon agriculture to make a living. To respond to the current agricultural operational situation of the gradual separation between land ownership and actual cultivation of the land, the COA has laid out plans for guiding actual cultivators to apply for participation in farmers’ health insurance. These applications will be handled on the principles of “reporting and registration, investigation of the facts, and follow-up management.” In addition, we coordinated with this new policy by amending the “Regulations about Standards for Determinations of the Farmers Engaged in Agricultural Work and Applies to Join in Farmers’ Health Insurance Programs and Examinations of Their Qualifications.”

　　In addition, to upgrade the laboring conditions for farmers, the COA has set out plans for farmers’ Occupational Injury and Disease Insurance. The aim is to enable insured persons to apply according to regulations for cash compensation when an occupational injury or disease occurs, in order to protect the occupational safety of farmers. At the present stage, we will strengthen health and safety education in the field of agriculture, and teach farmers how to prevent occupational injury or disease. Moreover, we have already set up a research program to undertake research and analysis related to occupational insurance systems.

3. Looking out for the well-being of farmers

(A) The welfare allowance for elderly farmers

　　In order to look after elderly farmers, the government issues a welfare allowance to qualified farmers 65 years of age and older. Since January 1 of 2016, the monthly allowance has been NT$7,256. In 2017 the COA paid out a total amount of NT$53.86 billion, benefiting 647,819 elderly farmers.

　　In addition the COA has drafted amendments to the Provisional Act Governing the Welfare Allowance for Elderly Farmers, and the lands that have been set legally as the land reserved for public facilities and aren’t yet expropriated or compensated will be included into the scope of value of the income deduction calculation. For those who are already collecting the welfare allowance, if the land and house(s) they own have not increased, where the declared current value of the land and the assessed standard price of the house(s) have been adjusted upward, they can escape the limitation of NT$5 million total value of land and house(s). The amendment also clearly stipulates the income matched to the year for the exclusion of the wealthy.

　　The Pension Reform Committee has been through numerous meetings and discussions, with the conclusion that farmers’ health insurance and the welfare allowance for elderly farmers should be included in plans for medium- or long-term reform, or for the next stage of reform. The COA will pro-actively collect the opinions of industry, government, and academia to appropriately design a farmers’ pension scheme that will ensure decent lives for farmers after retirement.

(B) Educational subsidies for children of farmers and fishermen

　　In order to ensure that the children of disadvantaged farmers and fishermen do not, for economic reasons, miss out on the chance to get high-school and college educations in Taiwan, a program was launched in September of 2003 to provide financial support and scholarships to these farmers and fishermen. In 2017 a total of NT$879,584,000 in academic subsidies was paid out, helping 103,484 beneficiaries continue their education

(C) Fuel subsidies for farmers and fishermen

　　Since 2011, the COA has been undertaking subsidy measures for price increases for fuel used by agricultural machinery. Because in 2017 the price of gasoline and diesel fuel was stable and lower than the base price, the price differential subsidy was not activated. In 2017 the COA subsidized the purchase of 570,000 kiloliters of diesel fuel for 6,942 fishing boats, with subsidies totaling NT$1.166 billion. In addition, we subsidized fuel for 6,228 gasoline powered fishing boats, with subsidies totaling NT$99.82 million.

(D) Subsidies for fertilizer price differentials

　　Since May 30 of 2008, the COA has been implementing the “program for fertilizer price adjustments and stabilizing fertilizer supply and demand.” The domestic price of fertilizer changes in accord with the situation with respect to raw materials, and, in the event of a rise in prices, the government subsidizes the price differential in order to ease the burden on farmers. As of the end of 2017, the cumulative amount spent on these subsidies was NT$25.3 billion. At present, in order to accelerate the promotion of organic and eco-friendly farming methods, starting on May 15, 2017, we have been subsidizing the transport costs for compound fertilizers containing organic matter such as peat, to encourage farmers to use these instead of traditional chemical fertilizers, in order to reduce the volume of chemical fertilizers used. In 2017 the COA subsidized 473,000 metric tons of such fertilizers, with subsidies totaling NT$240 million.

　　In order to balance out differences in the costs of fertilizer used by farmers in different areas, the COA subsidizes transport costs for fertilizer for Hualien and Taitung counties and for offshore islands, in order to uphold the rights and interests of farmers in remote locations with respect to use of fertilizer, and to ensure that the price of fertilizer bought by end-user farmers tends to be uniform. In 2017 the COA subsidized transport costs for 25,000 metric tons of fertilizer, with subsidies totaling NT$12.72 million.

(E) Subsidies for small farm machinery

　　To coordinate with agricultural development and meet the needs of agriculture, the COA guides farmers to purchase 14 types of small-scale agricultural machinery including power tiller/cultivators and small agricultural transporters. The goal is to promote mechanization of production and increase production efficiency. In 2017 the COA subsidized the purchase of 1,831 agricultural machines by farmers, with wet-paddy rice-seedling operators purchasing 60 labor-saving machines and the introduction of five new-type labor-saving agricultural machines, to promote labor-saving cultivation.

(F) Natural-disaster relief for agriculture

　　In 2017 the budget for the Agricultural Natural Disaster Mitigation Fund was NT$1.086 billion. Total relief payouts were NT$983 million, with relief being given to 44,070 households. Low-interest natural-disaster recovery loans totaling NT$291 million assisted 276 farmers and fishermen. The COA undertook disaster mitigation work following low temperatures in February, frost damage, torrential rains on June 1, June 13, and October 11, Typhoon Nesat, and Typhoon Haitang. We distributed relief funds to qualified farmers who had suffered damage, which was extremely helpful to assisting them to resume cultivation and rebuild.

　　Starting in March of 2017, the COA has commissioned a special team to do real time analysis of the weather, to produce and broadcast daily agricultural weather videos, to strengthen depictions of the distribution and time of impact of weather on farming and aquaculture areas, and to provide expert suggestions. These videos have been simultaneously broadcast on channels that include the official Facebook fan page, Youtube, and the electronic bulletin boards at farmers’ and fishermen’s associations. In 2017 we released 295 videos of weekday and weekend/holiday weather, and each month released 10 interview videos on special subjects and 25 on special weather events, and provided farmers, fishermen, and the general public with all kinds of disaster prevention and early warning information related to agriculture, in order to reduce losses from natural disasters.

　　Also, the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) of the COA developed a “mobile APP for real time reporting of agricultural natural disasters.” This raises the efficiency of disaster surveys, enabling the COA to quickly grasp hotspots where disasters are occurring and to effectively dispatch disaster-relief resources.

(G) Fishing boat insurance and maritime safety

　　According to the Regulations of Covering Insurance and Assistance for Fishermen Operating at Sea in the Taiwan Area, assistance is provided to fishermen depending upon the category of accident or problem encountered. In 2017 the COA approved payments totaling NT$32.22 million to 29 fishermen. Moreover, the Directions on Succoring for Taiwan’s Fishing Vessels in Maritime Disaster authorizes the payment of relief funds in the event of damage or destruction of a fishing boat (or raft), depending upon the tonnage class of the boat (raft). In 2017 the COA gave out NT$730,000 to 11 boats (rafts).

(H) Strengthening the effectiveness of farmers’ organizations

　　In 2017 the COA amended regulations that included the Regulations Governing Election and Recall of the Farmers’ (Fishermen’s) Association, the Regulations for Governing Evaluation of Performance of Farmers’ Associations, and the Regulations and Governing Personnel Management of Farmers’ (Fishermen’s) Association, and we guided work on the next-term elections of 2017 for chiefs and deputy chiefs of agricultural (fisheries) affairs committees, as well as for the representatives, supervisors, directors, and the general manager of each association. We also held three levels of training classes for new-term general managers of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations, to upgrade the competitiveness of these associations. Moreover, the COA managed the “2017 program for administrative supervision and guidance of agricultural foundations constituted as juridical persons,” guiding all of the government-funded foundations constituted as juridical persons under the jurisdiction of the COA to write administrative supervision reports. We also conducted on-site inspections of 10 government-funded agricultural foundations constituted as juridical persons and 10 ordinary agricultural foundations constituted as juridical persons, in order to exercise oversight over, and ensure the soundness of, the operations, personnel, and financial management mechanisms at these institutions.

　　In terms of guidance of farmers’ associations, the COA assisted 19 farmers’ associations to strengthen their extension and education facilities, and guided 28 farmers’ associations in developing economic enterprise programs. We also planned an innovative marketing strategy for the “Top 100 Premium Agricultural Products of Farmers’ and Fishermen Exhibition in Taiwan.” Finally, the COA increased the service functions of farmers’ associations and upgraded the operational capabilities of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations at all levels.

　　Under the Act of Irrigation Association Organization, the COA monitored and guided irrigation associations in handling irrigation and drainage activities, and promoted the work of restructuring and upgrading irrigation associations. In addition, to minimize the burden on farmers, irrigation associations have long ceased collecting membership fees, with the government instead appropriating NT$2.23 billion in 2017 to subsidize irrigation associations.

(I) Innovating in agricultural financial services

　　In order to strengthen the quality of services and competitiveness of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations, the COA assigned the Agricultural Bank of Taiwan (ABT) to integrate services and channels at the credit departments of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations. In June of 2010 the ABT signed a contract with farmers’ and fishermen’s associations covering items for which credit departments could accept payments on behalf of others, and created a comprehensive system of upper and lower level financial services. Under this system credit departments are allowed to provide 849 types of payment acceptance services, including insurance premiums for national pensions; payments for water, telecoms, credit cards, gas, and cable TV; and the fuel tax for cars and motorcycles. In 2107, 1,176 operational centers for 311 credit departments collected 102.72 million payments, totaling NT$413.4 billion. On December 28, 2017, the ABT began offering “gold passbook services,” providing financial products including investment and money management, as well diversified placement of assets, for clients.

　　In terms of management of the credit departments at farmers’ and fishermen’s associations, the COA has continually taken measures to improve the operational structure of credit departments. As of the end of 2017, total deposits at all credit departments were NT$1.8 trillion, with total outstanding loans of NT$1.1 trillion. Before-tax net profit was NT$5 billion. The non-performing loan ratio was 0.45%, the lowest in the past 30 years. Of all credit departments, 254 had non-performing loan ratios of less than 1%, of which 70 had non-performing loan ratios of 0%, indicating that loan quality was quite high. Overall, the operational structure of credit departments has significantly improved. The COA will continue to maintain a firm grasp of the operational situation at credit departments, and will strengthen oversight work, laying equal stress on oversight and guidance to continue to assist credit departments to ensure sound operations, and to maintain the stable development of agricultural finance.

　　To promote agricultural development, and improve the well-being of farmers and fishermen, the COA has continually promoted policy-oriented special agricultural loans. In 2017 we provided 40,000 farmers and fishermen with NT$24 billion in loans, to provide them with capital needed for their operations. In order to coordinate with government policies we strengthened our promotion of “loans for youths establishing agricultural businesses,” “loans for farmers’ organizations and agribusinesses management and marketing research and innovation,” “loans for recreational farms,” and “loans for agricultural energy conservation and carbon-emissions reduction,” providing 645 young farmers and businesses with NT$1.91 billion in capital loans. To further coordinate with agricultural policy objectives, the COA adjusted the types of loans and their content when appropriate, in order to upgrade the operational competitiveness of rural industries.