◆《Public grain and price protection and acquisition 》
At the beginning of Japanese reign, the government utilized the
Farmers’ Association System in delivering and transporting rice
grains. After Taiwan retrocession, the KMT government adopted the
Japanese grain control and distribution policy. Later, “Land
Property Tax levy in Return for Tangible Asset, Tax Levy
Acquisition. Grain Lease in Public Land, Fertilizer Rendered in
Exchange for Grain, Return on Rough Rice/Paddy from Grain Production
Capital Loan, Loan granting on various agricultural machinery
capital, and hydraulic facility capital return were methods used to
acquire partial rough rice/paddy as “public grain.” The acquisition
and storage of public grains were carried out by respective Farmers’
Associations in different areas. These public grains were mainly
used for military consumption, grain consumption of family members
of soldiers, grain consumption for public servant/teacher, grain for
wine production, distribution and sales, as well as batch sales. In
addition, grains in excess were exported.
In 1973, power and grain crisis broke out internationally. The
natural disasters in Taiwan resulted to inadequate supply of rough
rice/paddy. As the prices soared, the government encouraged
increased production and ensured the rights of peasants. In 1974,
Food Stabilization Fund was created to protect pricing. [At the
time, 20% profit was added to the anticipated rough rice/paddy
production costs] Rough rice/paddy produced by peasants was acquired
and the government had greater control over public grain quantity.
Later, public grain increased in quantity, and the pressure of
excessive grain reserves arose. The government therefore not only
constructed new storehouses but also appointed more private rice
milling factories to undertake storehouse operations. Storehouses of
private rice milling operators were used to store public grain. One
thing worth mentioning, private rice milling operators were only
requested to “Store” public grains not “sell” them. [Outsourced by
Food and Agriculture Agency〕
◆《Example: Nutritive lunch》
Based on the actual example below, milled rice/polished rice in
“nutritive lunch” is public grain. Schools need to purchase it from
Food and Agriculture Agency. After the school sends out a purchase
order, Food and Agriculture Agency will require the school to fill
out which private rice milling factory or Farmers’ Association that
stores public grain it wishes to have the rice delivered from. The
rice milling factory or Farmers’ Association selected will then
transport public grain in the storehouse to the school.
Take our school for example (Hsin Chia Elementary School), privately
owned Lian-Fa Rice Milling Factory [public grain outsourced
storehouse and milled rice/polished rice processing factory] used to
transport milled rice/polished rice to our school from its
storehouse. In the recent year or two, our school switched to Houbi
Town Farmers’ Association for rice delivery to our school. At
present, school rice consumption is provisioned by Houbi Town
Farmers’ Association storehouse
Procedure
school places order at
Food and Agriculture Agency Food |
↓ |
Agriculture Agency informs
local public grain storehouse for grain provision |
↙ |
↘ |
Farmers’Association |
outsourced privately
owned rice milling factory |
Farmers’Association or
outsourced privately owned rice milling factory delivers
grain to school
↓ |
school receives grain/food
supply |
◆《Private grain》
As compared to “public grain”, rough rice/paddy flowing freely in
non-government circles is called “private grain.” The free flows of
rough rice/paddy are collectively called private grains. A small
faction of these private grains is reserved by farming families
while most of it is acquired by rice dealers. After processing, it
is in turn sold by retailers. It is similar to logistics in the
past; the only difference is that the present rice grain logistics
are less complex. Most rice dealers have rice milling factories. In
other words, they are both wholesaler agents and processors.
◆《Farmers’ Association also plays the role of the rice dealer》
In
terms of Farmers’ Association, can Farmers’ Association that is in
charge of public grain be responsible for private grain acquisition?
The answer is yes. As long as Farmers’ Association has rice milling
tools, it is in fact possible for it to act as price dealer and
acquire rough rice/paddy from peasants. As a matter of fact, many
Farmers’ Associations have long purchased drying, milling, and
freezing barrel equipments and created their own brands. In short,
Farmers’ Association also plays the role of the wholesaler agent and
the processor.
An example of the above is Houbi Town Farmers’ Association. In
recent years, Farmers’ Associations have released Nung Rice, Lan Li
Rice, and Lan Li Hsiang Rice. These rice packages cannot be public
grains; instead, they are acquired from peasant harvests. Also,
Farmers’ Association also had drying, milling, vacuum packaging, and
storage tanks at constant temperatures. The one-line operation
methods and equipments are almost identical with private rice
dealers’. In some cases, they go even farther than them.
◆《Farmers’ Association VS rice milling operator》
You may wonder if Farmers’ Association compete with rice milling
factories for business. If you think that, you are right in a way.
As mentioned in the previous page, conventional “soil grind room”
operators were often land owners as well. They were the sources
where peasants acquired loans from. They therefore had control over
rough rice/paddy flow. Consequently, the Japanese government helped
Farmers’ Associations to grow so as to shred the power of soil grind
rooms.” Naturally, conflicts between Farmers’ Association and rice
milling operator were inevitable. Currently, peasants acquire loans
mainly from the credit section of Farmers’ Association. Modern rice
milling factories do not grant loans. As for rice grain flow and
processing, Farmers’ Association has gradually taken over. Unless it
is a large rice milling factory, otherwise, it is rather difficult
for factory proprietors to compete with Farmers’ Association.
◆《Current logistics flowchart》
Based on the above descriptions, and data from Rice Quality
Information Network of Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan ,
current rice logistics procedures are as shown in the chart:
Reference Chart: Flow of rice after harvest from rice fields in
Taiwan area
|
Producer〔Peasant〕 |
Sales aspect |
Farming family use
〔minute amount〕 |
Free market flow
〔private grain〕 |
Government price protection and
acquisition
〔public grain〕 |
Purchaser |
Household use
|
Farmers’ Association, privatized rice
dealer |
Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of
Agriculture, Executive Yuan |
Storage |
Household use
〔rough rice/paddy〕 |
Farmers’ Association, rice dealer
storehouse
〔rough rice/paddy〕 |
Farmers’ Association, rice dealer public
grain outsource storehouse
〔rough rice/paddy→brown rice〕 |
Processing |
Family style rice mill rice refining |
rice milling factory milling
〔small package〕 |
brown rice
↓ |
milled rice/polished rice processing
factory
〔large package〕 |
Sales |
Self-use, small amounts are given to
relatives and friends |
Retailer, sold to consumers at
supermarkets |
Grain for wine production, Feed rice |
Military, agency school use, or export |
Orange line:
storage and processing are two separate operations. They may be
categorized into: storehouse operator and processor. Rice grains may
be stored at Vendor A which are then milled at rice milling the
factory of Vendor B. However, Farmers’ Associations and private rice
dealers today generally are equipped with storehouses and rice
milling equipments. Many public grains are stored in outsourced
storehouses. Storehouse operators are themselves outsourced milled
rice/polished rice processors.〔such as Lian-Fa〕Generally, Rice
grains are stored at the storehouse of vendor A, and milled at the
rice milling factory of vendor A.
|