Taiwan has been removed from list of foot-and-mouth disease zones after 24 years of effort. The Council of Agriculture is optimistic about the export market at Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. Meanwhile, selling to Japan and the United States will be still a long way to go as Taiwan remains a classical swine fever epidemic area.


The Council of Agriculture set off firecrackers on June 17 to celebrate the eradication of foot and mouth disease. Farmers and residents have been waiting to celebrate this for 24 years.

I'm a little distracted today, because my phone hasn't stop ringing since eight yesterday. I couldn't sleep the entire night. We spent a full four years on this, starting with the measure to end vaccination.

The so-called ending vaccinations refers to ending the administering of foot and mouth disease vaccines on July 1, 2018. That means that all the hogs are healthy now. We completed this task that seemed impossible 24 years ago. I think Deputy Minister Huang wasn't the only one who wasn't able to sleep last night. I bet many Taiwan farmers couldn't sleep either.

The World Organisation for Animal Health has now recognized Taiwan as a "FMD-free country where vaccination is not practiced." It took a lot of work to reach this point. On March 19, 1997, the first case of FMD was confirmed in Taiwan, and fresh pork exports were banned. In 2003, Taiwan marked two years without any new cases, but in 2009, the plan to end vaccinations failed. New efforts to eradicate the disease were launched in 2016. This time, it took years to achieve the goal of eliminating the disease from the Taiwan, Penghu, and Matsu region. On June 16, OIE members officially voted to remove Taiwan from the list of FMD countries.

We're very optimistic about exports, because our pork is different from American or Canadian pork. We aim to develop the markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, or Macau, including those for processed pork or fresh pork.

Taiwan's pork is relatively expensive, with a wholesale price of NT$61 to NT$63 per kilogram, compared to NT$50 for U.S. pork. China is currently dealing with African swine fever and COVID-19, and the COA believes it can develop markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau, which have large Chinese populations.

However, Taiwan remains a classical swine fever epidemic area. The COA says Japan and the U.S. have more stringent regulations than Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau, so Taiwan won't be able to export to those countries until it has eradicated swine fever. This will be the next big challenge.



農委會在大門口放鞭炮，慶祝我國終於撲滅口蹄疫，這一刻，農民和國人盼望了24年！

農委會副主委 黃金城表示：「我今天精神有一點恍惚啦，因為昨天從8點多以後，手機(通知好消息)的聲音一直響，響了我整個晚上，都睡不好，花了4年的時間，把口蹄疫從開始規劃拔針，來到完成，整整4年的時間。」

農委會主委 陳吉仲表示：「所謂的拔針，就是2018年7月1號開始，就已經沒有施打口蹄疫的疫苗了，所以現在所有的豬隻都是健康的，達成24年以來，不可能的任務。我想昨天，不是只有黃副主委睡不著覺，可能很多台灣農民也睡不著覺。」

從世界動物衛生組織OIE除名，一路走來並不容易，回顧1997年3月19號，台灣豬隻確診、爆發口蹄疫，生鮮豬肉停止出口，雖然在2003年，台灣已有兩年沒再爆發案例，但2009年的「全面拔針」失敗，到了2016年才又重啟撲滅、作戰。這次歷經多年的努力，我國台灣、澎湖、馬祖地區，終於在2020年6月16號晚間，獲得OIE會員投票通過、認定為口蹄疫非疫區。

農委會主委 陳吉仲表示：「其實目前來講，我們對出口非常有信心，是因為我們豬肉跟美豬、加拿大豬等是不一樣的。從新加坡、香港、澳門，其實我們非常有潛力來發展(出口)，包括加工的豬肉，或者是生鮮的豬肉。」

雖然我國豬肉成本高，每公斤平均批發價在61元到63元之間，比美豬平均批發價50元，貴上許多，但中國適逢非洲豬瘟和武漢肺炎雙重打擊，農委會仍看好新加坡、港澳等華人外銷市場。

但我國仍是典型「豬瘟」的疫區，農委會表示，日本和美國的規定，比「星港澳」嚴格，在脫離豬瘟疫區之前，台灣豬肉還無法往日、美銷售，所以守住「非洲豬瘟」入侵、「拿掉」典型豬瘟，將是下一步的挑戰。