Small farmers processing open the door and take the road! The Law on Agricultural products Management has been passed on first reading, and there are legal sources for primary processing of agricultural land.

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Small farmers' processed products no longer fall in the three regardless zones, not only legalizing but also conducive to export! The draft amendment to the Law on the production and Certification of Agricultural products passed the first reading of the Legislative Yuan this (24) morning. At the earliest, before the end of July, the Council of Agriculture will formally establish a whip system for agricultural products from production to primary processing.

Chen Jizhong, chairman of the Council of Agriculture, said that the certificate of the "primary processing plant of agricultural products" is equivalent to the "factory registration certificate" under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which can meet the processing needs of small farmers with a relatively simple processing format. Hu Zhongyi, director of the Agriculture and Food Administration, stressed that whether or not to apply for a "primary processing plant" depends entirely on the needs of the farmers, and if the output is small, it can be produced in the original way. The source of this law is that it is hoped to be provided to those who want to go to large-scale access roads and expand marketing, and can obtain the qualification of "factory registration" through the "primary processing plant" license.

It is initially estimated that the applicable processing categories are "dry", "crushing", "grinding" and "roasting", with a total of more than 200 processing items, such as dried, tea bags, shelled peanuts and so on. However, those who have obtained production and marketing experience processing verification or organic processing verification are not included in these four restrictions. For example, the four categories do not contain alcohol, but if farmers produce organic plums, the processed plum wine can be included in the processing plant.

Each department will divide the work. (provided / Council of Agriculture)

Farmers: self-processing flexibility is high, no longer subject to the factory

Lu Guanquan, director of the Taichung Gonglaoping Industrial Development Association and also a farmer, says that 90% of the Gonglaoping community are farmers who grow more organic oranges and persimmons. If farmers want to develop processed products, they have to entrust factories to produce them. "when factory orders are less, thousands of kilograms of take-off is required, but we are not big enough, and it is hard for us to do it." In addition, it has to match the "start-up time" of the factory. "Persimmon leaves are harvested in April, and oranges are due in December, but it is impossible for the factory to adjust production in line with the production season. on one occasion, oranges can only be kept until the end of March if they cannot be arranged for three months."

Lu Guanquan points out that in the future, in conjunction with community farmers, they will jointly apply for a processing plant and do it on their own, so that they can reduce production costs and give back prices to consumers. it can also increase farmers' willingness to develop processed products and assist small agricultural products on shelves and pipelines.

"Open a way for farmers", processed products can go out of the world

Liu Yu-ling, president of the Miaoli Youth Farmers Association, says that she has operated an organic farm for many years, "but we don't have a factory registration, and we can't go up to many passageways. Even if some foreign manufacturers think our products are good and want to take them back, there's nothing we can do about it." If you want to talk about cooperation with the factory, because the output is limited and the factory price is high, it also deters the farmers.

She believes that "primary processing plants for agricultural products" can help small agricultural products gain legitimacy and achieve the same level of negotiation as products produced by ordinary large food manufacturers. "as long as they can get us into the channel, there will be more exposure and manufacturers will come to us for cooperation." Long-term help to stabilize agricultural production and marketing, solve the loss of production and marketing, and improve the income of small farmers.

Lin Chi-chih, chairman of the Nantou Pineapple Cooperative, which buys pineapples in Nantou and hopes to develop local brands, deeply agrees. He says that the precious feature of Taiwan's agriculture is its rich agricultural products and diversified processed products from small farmers. It's just that "consumers now have high requirements for food safety, and although small agricultural products are in circulation, no one is in charge."

Therefore, after the passage of the law, we can break through the dilemma that it is not easy for small farmers to obtain factory registration and cannot be sold on the shelves. "it is to open a way for farmers and help these excellent agricultural products to sell!" It is expected that the characteristic farmers in Taiwan will not only cultivate Taiwan deeply, but also have the opportunity to sell internationally.