CHIAYI MAGISTRATE TOLD US OFFICIALS PORK IMPORTS OK|訪美談美豬進口 張花冠:豬農準備好了

Media reported that in January this year, Chiayi County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan was part of a congratulatory group which went to call on US President Donald Trump and apparently told US officials that Taiwan would open its market to US lean pork and that Taiwan farmers were prepared this. The group even said that markets in other DPP counties would follow suit. The Taiwan Pig Association said that even winning a basic livelihood was hard for pig farmers now, let alone being prepared for US pork imports. In January of this year Executive Yuan Premier Yu Shyi-kun led a group to the US to participate in President Trump's inauguration. Media reported that Chiayi County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan told US officials that Chiayi had already held public hearings into US pork imports and pork farmers were prepared for the impact of such imports. She also said that other DPP counties would follow suit. == CHANG HUA-KUAN Chiayi County Magistrate== Importing American pork is an unavoidable problem, the Taiwan market has long been imported Canadian and Spanish pork accounting for over 60 percent of market share, so I think the most important thing for the Taiwan pork industry is to improve competitiveness. Chang said that she had talked about the topic at a meeting and at the same time told participants that there was a consensus on the issue of pork. == CHEN TING-FEI DPP legislator== There must be long-term planning or practise, it definitely cannot just be opened up, we are all clear in our attitude to this. Chang said that most farmers in her county understood future competitiveness and the only way to raise domestic production was to have competition. However, pig farmers themselves said it was tough to even win a basic livelihood let alone be prepared for US imports. ==PIG FARMER== We pig farmers have a tough time raising our pigs, the price of pork is not good right now and it will drop even further. ==PIG FARMER== I hope the government will come up with more specific measures or subsidies for farmers. The Council of Agriculture said it respected magistrates' pronouncements and that the US continued to push for pork exports to Taiwan. It said that animal testing on clenbuterol were still underway so whether Taiwan would open up to imports of US pork with clenbuterol, was not yet decided. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 媒體報導，嘉義縣長張花冠在今年1月，參加川普祝賀團訪美時，跟美國官員說，開放美豬進口，台灣農民準備好了，還說，其他綠營縣市也是。對於張花冠準備好的說法，豬農表示，現在連基本生存都很困難，很難說，準備好了沒有。 今年1月，前行政院長游錫堃帶隊，前往美國參與川普就職典禮，有媒體報導，嘉義縣長張花冠在與美方官員對話時談到美豬議題，表示，嘉義縣在各地方，已召開多場公聽會，農民已準備好因應美豬進口衝擊，甚至表示，其它綠營執政縣市也是。 ==嘉義縣長 張花冠== 進口美豬是一個不可迴避的問題 台灣市場其實早就有進口 加拿大豬和西班牙豬肉佔六成以上 所以我覺得 我們最重要養豬業的問題 是提高我們的生產競爭力 張花冠表示，她是在一場座談會上談到，當時也同行的立委表示，針對美豬議題，其實大家都有共識。 ==民進黨立委 陳亭妃== 一定要長遠的規畫或做法 這個絕對不能草率就開放 這個我們的態度非常的清楚 張花冠也強調，縣內農民大都已經了解產業未來的競爭，也體認，唯有提升國產豬的品質，才能夠提升競爭力，不過豬農說，豬農現在連基本生存都很困難，很難說，準備好了沒有。 ==豬農== 現在我們養豬的 大家都養的非常辛苦了 現在的豬價也沒有很好 如果又要開放進口豬 那我們的豬肉一定會再跌價更多 ==豬農 希望政府可以提出一些比較具體的補助 或者是獎勵農民的方法 農委會表示，尊重縣市首長的發言，針對是否開放含有瘦肉精的美豬進口，美方確實一直持續拋出相關題，但目前針對瘦肉精的動物實驗還在進行中。 記者綜合報導