US Peanuts Zero Tariff: Ministry of Agriculture Guides Crop Conversion, Sweet Potato Industry Welcomes

(Central News Agency reporter Jiang Yi-ching, Yunlin County, 29th) According to the Taiwan-US Reciprocal Trade Agreement (ART), US peanuts will be imported with zero tariffs. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that once implemented, this will affect 20-30% of domestic peanut production and will assist farmers in converting to edamame or sweet potatoes; Su Chia-yi, chairman of Jiongpu Cooperative Farm, expressed welcome.

Jiongpu Cooperative Farm in Yunlin County has 250 contracted farmers, with a contracted area of 350 hectares, and an annual output of about 7,200 metric tons. In addition to fresh sweet potatoes, they have also developed sweet potato chips, instant drinks, sweet potato mochi, baked sweet potatoes, and sweet potato floss, establishing the "Uncle A-Gan Sweet Potato" brand. It is not only popular domestically but has also entered the international market.

Su Chia-yi told a Central News Agency reporter that the Ministry of Agriculture called today to discuss supporting measures for peanut crop conversion. Both sides only had a preliminary discussion, and further meetings will be held for detailed deliberation.

Su Chia-yi mentioned that peanut cultivation is different from sweet potatoes. Peanuts are mechanized, but sweet potato harvesting still relies on manual labor, and the field management for the two crops is different, requiring farmers to re-learn.

Regarding the Ministry of Agriculture's intention to assist peanut farmers in converting to edamame or sweet potatoes, Su Chia-yi expressed welcome because of the large demand for domestic sweet potatoes.

Su Chia-yi pointed out that domestic sweet potatoes are harvested only once a year, concentrated from January to March annually. With cold chain equipment, the preservation of sweet potatoes is extended, and now they can supply the consumer market stably throughout the year.

However, with the increase in planting area, cold chain storage also needs to be expanded. Su Chia-yi hopes that the government will continue to support and also guide processing operators to develop more sweet potato series products to diversify products, meet different market demands, and expand market share.

In recent years, Su Chia-yi has taken his own products to the Tokyo Food Show and Singapore Food Show, where the overseas market is still dominated by processed foods such as sweet potato chips and baked sweet potatoes.

According to a briefing from the Agriculture and Food Agency, in recent years, domestic eating habits have changed, and more and more people are paying attention to health preservation, replacing rice with sweet potatoes when consuming starches. Currently, the annual domestic demand for sweet potatoes is 230,000 metric tons, with insufficient supply. The sweet potato production in 2024 was 218,000 metric tons. (Editor: Chang Ya-ching) 1150429

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