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Special Reports - Agriculture
cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine
Resources. The ministry will implement the project on a
sustainable basis, with the TaiwanICDF providing technical
support and helping to build capacity where relevant.
Providing Short- to Medium-term Financing to
Farmers and Small-scale Agribusinesses:
To ensure that projects develop sustainably and
continue to expand the benefits of development, we
began to implement Small Farmholders’ Financing
Schemes some years ago. The purpose was to assist
farmers to raise production funds and to receive an initial
injection of two-tier technical and financial assistance, and
to increase the economic scale and depth of assistance
projects. Such microcredit projects have been combined
with agricultural assistance projects to provide short- to
medium-term financing for farmers and microbusinesses
and thereby promote sustainable agricultural development
in our partner countries, as well as to achieve the first
MDG, “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.”
Promoting Aid for Trade by Improving Animal and
Plant Disease Prevention and Quarantine Measures:
Aid for Trade, which has become the focus of
various organizations since its launch by the World Trade
Organization’s General Council in 2006, aims to improve
the trading capabilities of developing and underdeveloped
countries through technical assistance, capacity building,
economic reform and infrastructure, so that such nations
can be integrated into the multilateral trading system and
enjoy the economic benefits of trade liberalization.
With trade liberalization ongoing, the type and
quantity of agricultural products being exported and
imported are increasing. This has increased the risk of
spreading invasive plant species and pests, such as
Huanglongbing in citrus fruits in Central America and
Black Sigatoka in St. Lucia. It is therefore important to
improve partner countries’ animal and plant disease
prevention and quarantine measures in order to control
the spread of diseases, protect the safety of agricultural
products and increase the value of agricultural trade. A
recent project commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, implemented jointly with the International Regional
Organisation for Plant and Animal Health (OIRSA) and
designed to strengthen the control of Huanglongbing and
manage other plant pests and diseases, for example, is
geared toward just this kind of outcome.
Working under the guidance of the Taiwan Technical
Mission in Nauru, local farmers take part in practical
training at the mission’s demonstration field.
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