New agency aims to increase area of irrigated farmlandNO EXPROPRIATION: The director pledged to prove to farmers that the new central department works for them better than its predecessor agenciesBy Yang Yuan-ting and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Agency of Irrigation was yesterday officially established, with its main aim being to increase the number of fields that are irrigated, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said. The Legislative Yuan on July 2 passed the third reading of a bill to convert the nation’s 17 irrigation associations into a central government body. The agency would promote the use of intelligent irrigation systems and modern equipment, he said, pledging that it would prove to farmers to be better than its predecessor. Agency Director Tsai Sheng-fu (蔡昇甫) said that its priority would be to step up agricultural irrigation construction projects, adding that the agency would later also focus on investigating and handling incidents of water pollution. Most importantly, the agency must supervise the provision of water to an additional 370,000 hectares of farmland outside of the irrigation zone and not just the 310,000 hectares in the zone, he said.

Source: Taipei Times October 01, 2020 15:56 UTC