A farmers association is authorized with the following duties:
1. Safeguarding farmers’ rights and interests, disseminating farming-related laws and regulations and mediating farming- related disputes;
2. Rendering assistance in improvement of land and farm water conservancy, soil and water conservation and forest planting;
3. Promoting superior seeds and fertilizers;
4. Rendering instruction and demonstration of farming production, propagating superior species, and enhancing the management of professional farming zones;
5. Handling affairs regarding awards, aids and subsidies encouraging agricultural extension, training and farming production;
6. Implementing and boosting affairs regarding farming mechanization and labor efficiency;
7. Rendering guidance and assistance and implementing affairs regarding joint operations, commissioned operations, family farm development and custom farming;
8. Marketing, transporting, warehousing, processing, manufacturing, exporting and importing agricultural and livestock products, and operating and managing related wholesale and retail-sale markets;
9. Importing, exporting, processing, manufacturing, allocating and selling materials for farming production, and supplying and marketing daily necessities to member farmers;
10. Operating farm warehouses and businesses for member farmers’ common utilization;
11. Operating financial businesses for member farmers;
12. Accepting commissioned requests to handle farming insurance business;
13. Accepting commissioned requests to assist farmers in insurance affairs and farm house constructions;
14. Boosting rural cooperation and social service businesses;
15. Promoting rural side lines and industries;
16. Promoting rural culture, medical and health services, welfare and relief aids;
17. Improving farmland utilization;
18. Preventing, control and remedying agricultural disasters;
19. Acting on behalf of government treasury and accept commissioned requests from government agencies or public/private groups to handle related affairs;
20. Operating agricultural travel and rural recreation businesses;
21. Handling affairs as specially approved by the competent authorities.
The tax-exemption on the above-mentioned businesses handled by a farmers association shall be subject to relevant provisions set forth in the Agriculture Development Statute and the Cooperative Law. Tax-exemption coverage in this regard shall be regulated by the Executive Yuan.
A farmers association shall enter duties as provided in Section 1 into its annual plans.

Farmers associations at any level wishing to carry out any aforementioned business may, subject to approval by the competent authorities, organize a body for joint operations so as to jointly operate the business and may thereby render transactions directly with any individual member. The joint operation body is a judicial person, and the rules and regulations governing its organization and operations shall be established by the central-level competent authorities.
A farmers association, when carrying out a financial business, shall establish a credit department. The credit department, unless provided elsewhere by this Act, shall be governed by the central-level competent authorities in accordance with related rules and regulations under the Banking Act. The credit department of a farmers association, subject to approval by the central-level target-business competent authorities, may accept deposits from non-members.
The central-level target-business competent authorities shall provide another measures to regulate affairs regarding approval of the establishment of a farmers association’s credit department and its branches, and approval of the abolition, suspension, resumption and re-organization of their operations, standards on the establishment of their equipment and personnel, professional requirements for the department head, range and limitations of the operated businesses, internal financing routines, risk control ratio and use of slack capital.
The credit department of a farmers association shall establish an internal auditing system, and the rules and regulations governing the enforcement of this system shall be established by the central-level target-business competent authorities.
The guidance and assistance in businesses operated by a farmers association’s credit department and related capital flows shall be handled by agricultural banks and treasury. Measures governing affairs in this regard shall be established by the central-level target-business competent authorities with consultations from the Central Bank.
The central-level target-business competent authorities shall also establish measures to regulate the handling of overdue loans, dunned debts and dead loans involving a farmers association’s credit department.
A farmers association, when accepting commissioned requests to handle farming insurance business and assist in affairs related to insurance for farmers, may establish an nsurance department.
A farmers association at any level, for the sake of handling businesses provided by the aforementioned Article, may ally at least five farmers associations to undertake a joint venture for the establishment of a limited-liability company. If this joint venture is an important investment, it may be exempted from the restrictions provided by Section 3 of Article 128 under the Company Act. Rules and regulations governing the reviewing of the capital establishment or investment of such joint venture shall be established by the central-level competent authorities.