Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/29
By: Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) The Council of Agriculture (COA) plans to make a bigger push for the development of organic agriculture by promoting eco-friendly farming methods in light of the limited progress achieved in the government’s drive for organic farming over the past decade, a council official said Sunday.

Although Taiwan has been promoting organic farming for about 10 years, progress has been limited as organic farms constitute only 0.7 percent of the nation’s farmland, which is much lower than the more than the 10 percent share seen in several European Union member countries, according to the official from the COA’s Agriculture and Food Agency.

In addition, after the Agricultural Production and Certification Act was promulgated in 2007, there were only 11 accreditation institutions that are competent to perform the certification process, as of the end of 2015.     [FULL  STORY]