What is going on?
Following the controversies over mixing and mislabelling of imported eggs the Ministry of Agriculture ordered to dispose of some 54 million. The eggs were imported as a result of the government program launched to import 145 million eggs from March and July of 2023 due to a nationwide shortage caused by the avian flu outbreak. The 54 million of the imported eggs worth 200 million NT will be destroyed due to the expiration date caused by prolonged storage after domestic egg production stabilized. But the story reveals deeper problems related to the food security policies resulting in Taiwan’s reliance on the imported food products.
What is the broader picture?
Taiwan’s food and agricultural supplies depend heavily on international import. Domestic food sufficiency has decreased from 56 percent in 1986 to 31 percent in 2021, the fact mainly attributed to the high population density and insufficient food production. Declining labor force caused by the aging population and slower rate growth of the employment in agriculture comparing to the total growth of the workforce population are only some of the factors; for decades Taiwan focused mostly on industrial development and service sectors, which led to diminishing area of arable land. As a result, the actual production of agricultural land in Taiwan is only 520 000 hectares, much less than determined by the Ministry of Interior, which set the national target between 740 000 – 810 000 hectares required to maintain the domestic food supply. In 2022 services accounted for 60 precent of the GDP, the industry revenue accounted for 37.8 of the GDP product with Taiwan semiconductor industry contributing 12.64 percent to real GDP in 2022, while the agricultural sector amounted only to 1.4 percent GDP. Consequently, Taiwan relies on the food import from several countries, it is sixth-largest export market for U.S. food and agricultural products, and as EU’s fourteenth trading partner in the world, Taiwan is also a significant market to the tobacco, food and drink products from the European Union. Other partners include Australia, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand despite Taiwan’s rather rigorous regulations on imported food and agricultural products.
Apart from the aforementioned structural changes Taiwan’s agriculture is facing environmental challenges due to natural disasters enhanced by the climate change, global competition, and the nature of the agricultural industry in Taiwan, which is mainly composed of the small-scale farmers. To address these challenges Council of Agriculture (COA) implemented 2017-2022 Smart Agriculture Program including two main strategies, Smart Production and Digital Services. Taiwan has set up digital databases for closer monitoring agricultural production areas, amounts, distribution, imports, inventories and prices to assess supply and demand on a rolling basis in order to stabilize the food supply.
Why it matters
Structural and environmental changes are not the only issues to make an impact on the food security in Taiwan. 40 percent of the agricultural products were lost in 2018 before reaching the consumers’ markets due to the overproduction which exceeded demand rate and storage capacities. Addressing this issue might significantly affect the reliance on imported food products. Taiwan as an island nation is particularly vulnerable to the food shortage thus effective food security strategies are an indispensable condition of the agricultural policies to stabilize the food supply in order to enhance the resilience against global crises and external threats.
