Productivity 4.0 initiative to bolster agriculture industry

2015/11/24

Taiwan’s agriculture industry is getting a boost thanks to the Council of Agriculture’s move to include the sector in the government’s Productivity 4.0 initiative, the Cabinet revealed Nov. 21.

“The COA project will integrate smart production management practices into the local agriculture industry. This will help enhance the sector’s output and production efficiency while boosting consumer confidence in the safety of products grown in Taiwan,” Premier Mao Chi-kuo said.

“Given the premium quality of local produce and the country’s established product traceability system, the nation’s foodstuffs will become highly sought-after export items,” he added.

The premier made the remarks while attending an event highlighting the research and development achievements of the Taichung City-based Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute over the last 120 years.

According to the premier, trade liberalization and open market access stemming from globalization are bringing substantial challenges to the country’s agriculture sector.

“In response, it is imperative that the local industry continues to enhance product quality and implement price differentiation strategies to sharpen its global competitiveness,” Mao said.

An equally daunting task is to invigorate the local sector’s fast-aging workforce, which averages 63 years old, by encouraging members of the younger generation to devote themselves to agriculture, he added.

Under the COA project, 10 specific areas within the agriculture sector—boasting a combined output of NT$247.4 billion (US$7.56 billion) in products—have been selected for strategic promotion. These include farms and factories, aquaculture, fresh dairy, marine fisheries, moth orchids, mushrooms, poultry, rice and the seed industry.

The premier said an important step in this regard is the replacement of outdated agricultural machinery with new advanced equipment, a key element in the government’s latest initiative to boost domestic consumption.

Other measures include cultivating multidiscipline talents and promoting cross-sector alliances and innovative business models to help develop Taiwan’s individual farms into globally competitive businesses, Mao added.

Unveiled by the Cabinet in August, the nine-year, NT$36 billion Productivity 4.0 project is part of the government’s response to the so-called fourth industrial revolution in major economies such as Germany, Japan and the U.S.

The plan features key measures such as developing smart factories for diversified and automated production, employing big data to map out manufacturing and sales forecasts, and increasing total manufacturing output.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=239204&ctNode=2194&mp=9)