To protect farmers’ rights, the central government should increase tariffs on imported peanuts, and ensure that the production and sale of local peanuts are balanced, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member said when visiting farmers in Shueilin Township (水林). The county government is to ask the council to extend the period of purchasing peanuts at guaranteed prices, she said. Many farmers have complained that peanuts harvested at later dates have not yet been purchased, Yunlin County Councilor Huang Wen-hsiang (黃文祥), an independent who used to be Chang’s aide, said. Nearly 300 tonnes of peanuts grown by 200 farmers across the county have not yet been purchased, Yunlin County Agriculture Department Director-General Wei Sheng-te (魏勝德) said. The agency has paid NT$290 million in loans to peanut farmers and would request that farmers’ groups pay loans to farmers who file applications at later dates, it said.
