The Agricultural Development Act (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) is enacted to ensure the sustainable developments of agriculture, to address agricultural globalization and liberalization, to promote reasonable utilization of farmlands, to adjust the structures of agricultural enterprises, to stabilize the sale of agricultural production, to advance the income and welfare of farmers and to promote the living standards of farmers. Matters not provided herein shall be governed by other applicable laws.

For the purposes of implementing the Act, the term “competent authority” denotes the Council of Agriculture, the Executive Yuan at the central government, the city government, and the county or municipal government at county or municipality level.

For the purposes of implementing the Act, the following terms are defined as follows:
1. Agriculture: The utilization of natural resources and agricultural materials and technology, to engage in leisure and recreation, production and distribution of farming, forestry, aquaculture and animal husbandry.
2. Agricultural products: Articles produced from agricultural activities.
3. Farmers: Natural persons who directly engage in agricultural activities/affairs.
4. Family farm: A farm that is engaging in agricultural affairs on the basis of a co-habitation household unit.
5. Recreational agriculture: A kind of farming management that applies landscapes of countryside, ecosystem and environmental resources, integrate the production of agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry, agricultural activities, cultures of farm villages and life of peasant families, provide citizen recreation and enhance the objective of experiencing agriculture and farm villages.
6. Recreational farm: The farm that is managed for recreational agriculture activities.
7. Farmers’ organization: Farmers’ associations, fishermen’s associations, agricultural cooperations and irrigation associations that are consisted of farmers as members of those organizations in terms of the Farmers’ Association Law, the Fishermen’s Association Law, the Agricultural Cooperative Law and the General Provisions of the Organization of Irrigation Associations.
8. Agricultural corporation: a company that engages in agricultural production, or agricultural experimentation and research activities.
9. Agricultural research and experiment institute: Any institute, school or agricultural juristic person that engages in agricultural research and experiment.
10. Agricultural land: A land, that is not designated as a urban land or as a land that is in the scope of urban agricultural zones or reserved zones, is used for the purposes as follows in accordance with relevant laws:
(a) Farming, forestry, aquaculture, animal husbandry and conservation.
(b) Farmhouses, barns, storage and warehousing facilities, solar yards, collecting sites, farm road, irrigation, drainage systems and other agricultural use that are seen as an integral part of farming managements (c) Warehouses, freezing/chilling facilities, agricultural machinery centers, sites of manufacture of silk/breeding silkworms, collecting sites and inspection stations that are directly provided for agricultural use/purposes, and the properties of which are owned by farmers’ organizations or cooperative farms.
11. Arable land: An agricultural or a grazing land that is attributed to specific agricultural zones, general agricultural zones, hillside conservation zones and forest zones as delimited in terms of the Regional Planning Law.
12. Agricultural use: The use of agricultural lands where the agricultural lands, in accordance with relevant laws, are actually provided for farming, forestry, aquaculture, livestock breeding, conservation and establishing agriculturally related facilities or farmhouses. The use of those agricultural lands that the circumstances such as fallowing, recuperating and suspended practices on the lands or uncontrollable forces of the lands are conducted in accordance with relevant laws, and those lands are not actually provided for farming, forestry, aquaculture and livestock breeding, are also within the scope of the definition.
13. Specialized agricultural production zone: A zone that is established in terms of relevant laws regulating the types of agricultural production/products, and is set up for production, manufacture, storage and distribution.
14. Lease of agriculture land: An act in which the landlord leases out part or the whole of his/her agricultural land to other parties for agricultural farming purposes.
15. Commissioned farming: An act in which other parties are commissioned to engage in only part or the whole of the farming production procedures of self-operating family farms.
16. Cooperation group: An agricultural organization which is voluntarily formed and managed by farmers together whose lands are adjacent or close to each other, or manage the same type of agricultural activities.
17. Delivery and distribution of agricultural products: Operations of agricultural products such as collection, classification, grading, packaging, storage, freezing/chilling, processing, inspection, transportation and trading.
18. Extension of agriculture: An act of applying the means such as agricultural resources, broadcasts, development of manpower and administration services to provide farmers opportunities of life-long education, assist in utilizing local resources and develop the practices of local industries.

In ensuring the effective implementation of this Act, the related government authorities at each level shall prepare annual administration plans and budgets listing the related projects, and actively promote for such effective implementation.
The central government shall subsidize to fill in the need as presented in the budgets of the preceding paragraph when it sees necessary.

The competent authorities shall improve information facilities and manpower to promote information compiling of agricultural management and conduct statistics and analysis of agricultural resources, production and distribution. In the same way, it shall guide farmers and farmers’ organization to build up an environment of agricultural data application and strengthen data collection.
Local government at township level shall appoint officials to be in charge of conducting surveys and compiling statistics on agricultural resources as well as production and distribution information. The said information shall be submitted to the competent authorities at the respective level for further analysis and processing.

Competent authorities may appoint officials to take necessary measures in performing special duties such as protection of agricultural resources, disaster salvage, and preventing blight, pest and diseases of aquatic creatures.

In strengthening the organizational functions of farmers’ associations and securing farmers’ rights and interests, farmers’ associations of each type may jointly establish nationwide unions in accordance with relevant laws.