Eco-friendly farming ｜Subsidy Guideline for Organic and Eco-friendly Farming

Subsidy Guideline for Organic and Eco-friendly Farming

1、Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, (hereafter the Council) provides subsidizes (hereafter the subsidy) organic and eco-friendly farming for ecosystem protection and sustainable agriculture development. This guideline sets forth detailed procedures.

2、Subsidies target at lands that are currently cultivated by farmers and registered by certified organic farming and eco-friendly farming organizations (hereafter the eco-friendly farming organizations). Lands with closed environment-controlled facilities are not applicable.

3、Qualified applicants：
3.1. Farmers
3.2. Agricultural enterprises
3.3. Legally established or registered farmer organizations, farms, and stock farms. Farms and stock farms operated by schools and public authorities (institutions) are not applicable.

4、Subsidy standards and period：
4.1 During the effective products certification period of organic agricultural products, subsidy can be provided to certificated lands undergoing organic transition period for no more than three years.：
4.1.1. Incentive for ecosystem service：NTD30,000 per hectare every year.
4.1.2. Subsidy for revenue loss：NTD30,000 for rice and vegetable per hectare every year and NTD50,000 for other crops per hectare every year.
4.2 Organic certified lands: annual incentive for ecosystem service of NTD30,000 per hectare can be paid for three years.
4.3 Registered eco-friendly farming lands: annual incentive for ecosystem service of NTD30,000 per hectare can be paid for three years.
4.4 Incentive for organic mass cultivation: when the land in the organic mass cultivation area is certified for organic and organic transition, annual incentive for ecosystem service of NTD10,000 per hectare can be paid for three years. However, public organic mass cultivation area is not applicable.

When the following requirements are met, the convenor of the organic mass cultivation area can submit a plan of town (village or city) organic mass cultivation area (Attachment 1), a name list of farmers in the organic mass cultivation area (Attachment 2), and a copy of Land Registration Trancommon and Cadastral Map Trancommonion to the municipality city or county (city) government for setting up an organic mass cultivation area. After the preliminary review, the municipality city or county (city) government will send a written notification for corrections or missing documents if necessary. When the preliminary review is passed, the application will be submitted to the Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council for approval. A written notification will be sent to the applicant by the Agriculture and Food Agency after approval.

1. The certified land shall be at least 5 hectares. Several pieces of lands in the same neighborhood shall be at least 10 hectares.
2. A land Leasing agreement, if any, shall be effective for at least two years.
3. The certified land shall be cultivated by at least two farmers.
4. Complete marketing channels.

5. Procedure and schedule of subsidy application：
5.1. The applicant shall submit an application (Attachment 3) and the following documents to its certification institution, eco-friendly farming organization or any authority (institution) designated by the Council from September 1st to 15th every year. Late submission will not be accepted.：
5.1.1. A copy of national identification card and establishment or registration documents.
5.1.2. A copy of land registration trancommon, land use zoning certificate, land leasing agreement, or land cultivation agreement.
5.1.3. A copy of organic agricultural product certification, eco-friendly farming certification (indicating farmers’ names, addresses, land section serial numbers, areas, corps, registration dates and etc.) issued by the eco-friendly farming organization in the current year or any documents proving that the land is approved as the organic mass cultivation area by the Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council.
5.1.4. Applicant’s bank statement.
5.1.5. Any documents required by the Council.
5.2. The certification institution, eco-friendly farming organization or any authority (institution) designated by the Council will consolidate application documents and then send to the division (hereafter the division) of the Agriculture and Food Agency in the area indicated in the application documents required by Article 5.3 for further approval and examination before September 30 every year.
5.3. The division shall review the application and send a written notification to the applicant for corrections or missing documents, if necessary. Agriculture and Food Agency will reject the application when such corrections or documents are not submitted on time. The division shall complete a list of applications (Attachment 4) before October 31st every year.
5.4. The division will randomly check these applications on the list with the municipality city or county (city) government. The number of checked applications will be decided in accordance with the total number of applications in the municipality City or county (city). At least one land number shall be verified for each application. More land numbers can be verified, if necessary：
5.4.1. Two applications shall be checked when the number of applications is smaller then twenty.
5.4.2. Five applications shall be checked when the number of applications is bigger than twenty but smaller then one hundred.
5.4.3. No more than twenty applications shall be checked when the number of applications is bigger than one hundred. The number of checked applications shall be 5% of the total applications, in principle.
5.5 The division shall complete the random check before November 20th every year and approve the list of applications that meet the subsidy requirements in accordance with the result of random check. The approved list will be sent to the authority designated by the Agriculture and Food Agency to make payments.
5.6. The fiscal year begins on October 1st of the previous year and ends on September 30th of the current year. The division conducts the random checks in accordance with Article 5.4. When the checked land is not located within the area of jurisdiction, documents related to the checked land shall be sent to the division within the area of jurisdiction for a random check. The division that receives such application will continue following procedures in accordance with the result of random check.

6. To calculate the amount of subsidy, the following guidelines shall be complied：
6.1. The amount of subsidy will be calculated for the area (excluding buildings, concrete and asphalt pavement) indicated in the application documents.
6.2. The amount of subsidy shall be calculated monthly. The monthly payment will not be made when the calculated days are less then 30 days.
6.3. When the transition certificate is upgraded to the organic certificate, the amount of subsidy will be calculated for the transition certificate in that month.
6.4. When more than one crop is cultivated on the land during the transition period, the subsidy for revenue loss will be calculated for the crop of a lower subsidy amount.
6.5. When the organic certificate is changed to the transition certificate for some reasons, the amount of subsidy will be still calculated with the organic certificate standard for the effective period of the organic certificate.
6.6. New subsidy application will not be accepted for the organic certificated (including transition certificated) land after the effective period of subsidy ends.

7. The subsidy will not be paid when the applicant or the land indicated in the application meet the following conditions during the subsidy period regulated in the Article 5.1.6：
7.1. The applicant spontaneously requests to terminate the organic certificate (including a transition certificate) so the organic certificate is terminated for thirty days.
7.2. The organic certificate (including a transition certificate) is terminated by the certification institution for a violation of agricultural production and certification regulations.
7.3. The certification institution does not stop the temporarily termination of an organic certificate (including a transition certificate) before the subsidy period ends. When the temporarily termination is not related to a violation of agricultural production and certification regulations and the administrative sanction is not made, the subsidy will still be paid in the same fiscal year.
7.4. The applicant spontaneously stops the application. Or, the eco-friendly farming institution cancels the applicant’s registration.
7.5. The harvest is purchased in accordance with the public grain purchasing policy.
7.6. The incentive payment of NTD 10,000 will be stopped when the organic mass cultivation area is cancelled by the Agricultural and Food Agency.

8. The subsidy for one piece of land shall be paid for a period of time no longer than six years after the application is approved. After the subsidy period ends, no more subsidy indicated in this guideline can be applied for the same piece of land.

9. When the applicants or lands are not complied with the guideline and an extra amount of subsidy is paid, the Agriculture and Food Agency can deduct the extra amount from the subsidy payment in the coming year.
When the amount of the subsidy payment is not enough to be deducted or no subsidy can be deducted in the coming year, the Agriculture and Food Agency can require the extra amount to be returned before the deadline with a written notification of administrative sanction. When the extra amount is not returned before the deadline, such case will be transferred to further administrative execution according to the laws.

10. The Council can adjust the subsidy amount indicated in the guideline or stop the payment according to policy changes or budgeting.

• Source：Global organic farming website / Agriculture Information Team of Agriculture and Food Agency
• Link：Subsidy Guideline for Organic and Eco-friendly Farming