Not much chance to participate here today, but I did want to draw attention to the long blog post on rural politics and farm associations in Taiwan I put up yesterday. Unfortunately this crucial political subsystem doesn’t get enough publicity, so that the import of the recent changes made by the pan-Blues to the laws governing these associations is missed.
[ul]The past few days the Taipei Times has been running articles on the changes at one of the most important of the nation’s rural institutions, the farmer’s associations. According to this 2005 paper, Taiwan has 281 local farmers’ associations, 21 city and county farmers’ associations and one provincial farmers’ association. “These local farmers’ associations are the most important social and economic cooperative organizations in local areas of Taiwan.” They are critical for understanding how Taiwan’s politics function.
The farmers’ associations were established in 1900 by local farmers during the Japanese colonial period. The colonial government took them over and operated them as an administrative arm of the government. They formed the core of the colonial government’s agricultural extension program, which was involved in standardizing seed varieties, introducing new farming methods, and other developmentalist activities. Membership was required of all rural households. By the 1920s these were major institutions with 40,000 employees…[/ul]
Reform-minded KMT legislators are worried that the rule changes, meant to institutionalize KMT-favorable corruption at the local level, may rebound to Ma Ying-jeou’s discredit in the upcoming Presidential polls, and have joined DPP calls to reverse the changes. I don’t see why they would affect Ma, whose support for corrupt KMT politicians is well known, but…
Nice blog post Vork. I read it yesterday. Those farmers associations certainly are a big part of the landscape down in my neck of the woods.
But, hey, wait on, shouldn’t you be working on your book projects?
Very interesting subject Vork. The political, economic and cultural power of agricultural organizations is not something that always immediately comes to mind in the overview of a societies structure.
Perhaps you could offer comment on additional aspects of these groups.
Do any of them:
Offer programs on land and crop maintenance?
Have training programs for future farmers/livestock operators?
Work with any of the gov’t agencies in soil and water conservation efforts?
Offer training and/or subsidies to encourage “eco-friendly” or organic farming/animal husbandry?
Offer guidelines to their members for crop-safety and safe fertilizer/pesticide application?
Have any 4-H or FFA like organizations for children in the rural communities.
Do the binlang grower groups have a high profile in these organizations or are they even members?
My family were not ‘farmers’ but I did grow up in a pretty rural area. I joined the 4-H for 18 months, but honestly it was to meet girls and get into the county fair for free.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Very interesting subject Vork. The political, economic and cultural power of agricultural organizations is not something that always immediately comes to mind in the overview of a societies structure.
Perhaps you could offer comment on additional aspects of these groups.
Do any of them:
Offer programs on land and crop maintenance?
Have training programs for future farmers/livestock operators?
Work with any of the gov’t agencies in soil and water conservation efforts?
Offer training and/or subsidies to encourage “eco-friendly” or organic farming/animal husbandry?
Offer guidelines to their members for crop-safety and safe fertilizer/pesticide application?
Have any 4-H or FFA like organizations for children in the rural communities.
Do the binlang grower groups have a high profile in these organizations or are they even members?
My family were not ‘farmers’ but I did grow up in a pretty rural area. I joined the 4-H for 18 months, but honestly it was to meet girls and get into the county fair for free.
Does your research cover any of these areas?[/quote]
No. But I do know they do those things, but it depends on the corrperative. Lots of them have foci, like tea or fruit, and they target that product or crop.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Offer programs on land and crop maintenance?
Have training programs for future farmers/livestock operators?
Work with any of the gov’t agencies in soil and water conservation efforts?
Offer training and/or subsidies to encourage “eco-friendly” or organic farming/animal husbandry?
Offer guidelines to their members for crop-safety and safe fertilizer/pesticide application?[/quote]
The association offers a wide range of training courses and benefits to it’s members. These include all of the items listed above as well as more practical things like tractor driver training and reduced premiums for NHI.
To the best of my knowledge nothing like this exists.
Binlang growers are certainly members, but their profile would depend on the location. I don’t think they have much influence in the Taoyuan farmer’s association.
go to the areas where Binlang trees look like the native forest and you’ll see how powerful they are. Just remember the CSB case trying to get binlang out of Taipei…
