Owners Need Not Till, Though Tillers Need to Own

In a recent sampling of eighty-five farming households, Professor Huang Ta-chou of National Taiwan University found that 41 percent had farmlands in two separate areas. In the past, small farms and the dispersal of farmlands was never a source of agitation. However, with the number of job opportunities provided by business and industry following the economic development of Taiwan, and the subsequent drifting of labor resources from rural agricultural areas, it has become necessary to rely on modern farming machinery in cultivating the land. Using these machines on such small tracts of land is not only inconvenient, it is also economically infeasible.

Wu T'ung-ch'uan, director of the Economics and Planning Department at the Council of Agriculture, sees the enlargement of farm areas as a problem of extreme urgency. "Small and divided farmlands are an obstruction in the path of the commercialization and modernization of agriculture," he asserts. Adds Chiang Jung-chi, professor of Agricultural Economics at National Taiwan University, "The size of farms on Taiwan at present are so small as to make their utilization unreasonable," further emphasizing that this is also the cause of the low income of farmers relative to that of workers in other professions.

This state of affairs has also given rise to what is now a common phenomenon. Because incomes are low, farmers are all out competing for second jobs, and in the end agriculture becomes merely a sideline. The proportion of farmers on Taiwan holding second jobs today has reached eighty-five percent. Such being the case, why don't these "part-time farmers" simply sell off their fields? Though some of the younger ones may be willing to do so, the older folk who have worked all their lives at sowing the fields have become accustomed to life on the farm. Although they are dependent on the support of their offspring who have gone off to work in other places, and thus need not worry about basic life's necessities, they would still prefer to keep their land, working the fields as the urge strikes them. "Possessing the land, we feel more secure," explains one businessman who hails from a rural Pingtung village. "In the event that one day business is not so good, we could always go back to the plow as a last resort."

In addition to these factors, land values on Taiwan have been steadily on the increase for the last thirty years. If they are not in immediate need of cash assets, many people prefer to let their land go wild rather than putting it up for sale. These modes of action which take into account primarily personal benefit should not be criticized too heavily, but when the overall picture is viewed as a whole, we see resources which are going to waste. Those who own land but are not putting it to good use make up only fifteen percent of the farming population, but as professional farmers desire to expand the area of their cultivated lands, they are finding that there are no fields available for purchase.

In the past, in order to improve the living standards of farmers and to heighten their volition to work, the government implemented the "37.5 percent land-rent discount" and "land-to-the-tiller" programs so that the sharecroppers who were actually doing the plowing and sowing were enabled to own the land on which they worked. Production was, as expected, greatly increased; to the extent that agricultural development was able to be used as a support for industry, thus accomplishing the "economic miracle" on Taiwan. However, because nearly all of the small farm owners of today were those very sharecroppers of earlier years, the experience of their overnight change from tenants to owners now causes them to worry that if they rent out their lands, it may eventually become the possession of the new tillers.

"Our country went in the past from large-scale farms to those of a smaller scale, and now we are looking to devise a method of returning again to the larger farms. The difficulty we are now faced with is that the policies of the past have left behind a legacy which I'm afraid no one had anticipated," says Hung Pi-fung, director of the Farmers Service Department at the Council of Agriculture. "All I can say is that the "land-to-the-tiller" program was too successful."

Chiang Jung-chi explains that times have changed, and that today agriculture may follow the course of business and industry. Companies are rented, the machinery of building contractors is rented, and the land managed by farmers may naturally also be rented. "'Land-to-the-tiller' can be given a new interpretation," he says, his new explanation being that while farmers engaged in cultivation will possess their own land, not all of the land which they manage need necessarily be their own.

As concerns the gradual departure of labor from rural villages, Liao Cheng-hung, professor at the Agriculture Extension Department of National Taiwan University, does not see this as a problem requiring restrictive measures. In fact, he feels that its natural course should be actively encouraged. Only with this exodus of labor are farming specialists given the opportunity to broaden the scope of their management.

What needs to be of concern, however, is how to keep on the farms those young people who have their hearts in farming and are able to accept new concepts in agriculture. At present by far the largest portion of farmers on Taiwan are aged from forty-five to sixty years old. As Chiang Jung-chi describes it, these farmers, who are accustomed to traditional methods of cultivation, "can't imagine what one person, sitting atop of an oversized machine, single-handedly managing a farm tens of hectares in area, could possibly be like."

Those government bodies concerned with agriculture should also conduct a complete and thorough investigation of the present farming population, eliminating from its midst those owners of small tracts of farmland who, though the official status given on their citizenship cards remains "farmer," have actually long since ceased to pay more than an occasional visit to the countryside.

"It cannot be denied that there are many people taking advantage of the convenience of buying and selling land provided by their 'farmer' status in order to engage in land speculation," says Chiang Jung-chi, further pointing out that these people, through whose hands the land passes for the sole purpose of making money, are hindering the prospects for serious farmers to enlarge the area of their farms.

[Picture Caption]

One person, sitting atop of a huge machine while cultivating a vast tract of land, will soon replace traditional methods of raising crops.

The lack of adequate machinery is an obstacle hindering the turning over of rice-growing areas to other crops.

Harvest season is here again. As labor resources drift away from rural villages, wages rise higher and higher. (photo by Arthur Jeng)

Agriculture needs to come under a more commercial-oriented type of management, as seen in this large-scale cantaloupe farm.

Enlarging the area of management on family farms brings large-volume production and ease of transport.

Keeping in the fields those members of the younger generation with their hearts in farming is a matter of pressing concern. (photo by Vincent Chang)

[Picture]

Agricultural Bulletin Board

Management over larger land areas allows for work with modern farming machinery. (photo by Arthur Jeng)

The lack of adequate machinery is an obstacle hindering the turning over of rice-growing areas to other crops.

Agriculture needs to come under a more commercial-oriented type of management, as seen in this large-scale cantaloupe farm.

Harvest season is here again. As labor resources drift away from rural villages, wages rise higher and higher. （photo by Arthur Jeng）

Enlarging the area of management on family farms brings large-volume production and ease of transport.

Keeping in the fields those members of the younger generation with their hearts in farming is a matter of pressing concern. （photo by Vincent Chang）

Agricultural Bulletin Board.

Agricultural Bulletin Board Management over larger land areas allows for work with modern farming machinery. （photo by Arthur Jeng）