Subsidy for veteran farmers increased to 15,000 yuan per month. Ministry of Agriculture: Budget surged by 32 billion yuan and cannot be paid out

The Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to the "Interim Regulations on Welfare Subsidies for Elderly Farmers" on the third reading today (6th), raising the monthly subsidy to 15,000 yuan and retroactively disbursing it to July 1 this year. The Ministry of Agriculture stated this afternoon that it "deeply regrets" the matter, emphasizing that the monthly increase of 5,000 yuan has increased the annual budget by about 32 billion yuan. Not only is this year's budget insufficient to cover it, but it will also affect the government's finances in the long term and reduce the allocation space of other agricultural governance resources.

In response to the price index, the Executive Yuan proposed an amendment to the old farmer allowance law this year, increasing it from the current 8,110 yuan per month to 10,000 yuan, and proposed an additional budget of 6.45 billion yuan. However, the Kuomintang and the People's Party recently raised the proposal to 15,000 yuan. It was passed on the third reading today and will be distributed back to July this year. When Minister of Agriculture Chen Junji went to the Legislative Yuan to explain last week, he mentioned an increase of 5,000 yuan, and the budget will surge by about 32 billion yuan. This year's budget "cannot be released!"

The Ministry of Agriculture once again detailed this evening that about 530,000 people receive the old farmer allowance every year, and the Legislative Yuan raised it to 15,000 yuan. Such a substantial increase in long-term fixed welfare expenditures requires corresponding financial analysis and clear financial resource planning, rather than just increasing the payment amount, but not fully considering how to raise additional funds. It "deeply regrets" that the Legislative Yuan read the bill for the third time.

The Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that in addition to supporting subsidies for veteran farmers, the agricultural budget must also invest in important tasks such as agricultural infrastructure, farmland water conservancy and irrigation improvements, rural construction, agricultural science and technology, industrial upgrading, and support for young people to engage in agriculture. Without appropriate financial resources, the overall agricultural resource allocation space will be compressed and other agricultural construction and farmer support measures will be squeezed out.

The Ministry of Agriculture stated that taking care of farmers does not only rely on subsidies for old farmers. The government also continues to strengthen the protection of farmers during their farming period through farmers' health insurance, farmers' occupational disaster insurance, agricultural insurance and farmers' retirement savings funds. For example, starting from this year, the eligible childbirth benefit of agricultural insurance will be topped up to 100,000 yuan per child, and the average cash assistance benchmark for agricultural natural disasters will be increased from 20% to 25% of production costs to comprehensively improve farmers' welfare.

The Ministry of Agriculture emphasized that welfare policies cannot be based on price increases, but only on the amount of benefits. More attention should be paid to the adequacy of financial resources, the fairness of the system, and whether it can be implemented in the long term. The government needs to take care of elderly farmers, but it also has the responsibility to rationally allocate the resources needed for agricultural development. While taking care of elderly farmers, it must also take into account agricultural infrastructure, industrial upgrading, and support for youth farming, so that farmers of different generations can obtain stability and guarantee to promote sustainable agricultural development.