The Council of Agriculture said July 26 it would begin accepting wet rice crops from farmers later this year in an attempt to increase their average income.
“With this move, paddy rice famers should be able to make an additional NT$20,000 (US$693) per year for every hectare of land,” said COA Minister Chen Wu-hsiung.
For the last 37 years, the government has bought rice crops from farmers on the condition that the crops contain no more than 13 percent moisture.
The new initiative comes in response to suggestions by farmers that the government could improve their livelihood if it offered to buy wet rice as well.
Chen said the wet-rice policy would probably cost the government an extra NT$800 million per year.
The policy will be implemented this fall only in certain areas where drying equipment is available. It will be carried out nationwide next spring in time for the first harvest of the year.
One obstacle to overcome is that only 164 out of 249 rice-purchasing centers have drying machines. The COA promised it would provide subsidies to those centers that need to buy new ones.
Chen added that the government is committed to ensuring that all ROC citizens have access to reasonably priced, high quality rice. (HZW)
