Taiwan became a member of the WTO in November last year. This helped push Taiwan to the International business circle successfully; also it helped all the Taiwanese businesses to grow positively, but Taiwan would face strong international competition as well. This essay is about how Taiwan¡¦s rice policy will react and adjust to the strong international competition after joining the WTO. Also we will talk about how the rice policy of Taiwan revolves into what it is today since WWII. We will look at the good and the bad from previous policies, so we can create better agricultural policies for now, and better the economy of Taiwan¡¦s rice business for the future. The problem that Taiwan is facing now is the policy of limited quota. We have to follow the rule of ¡¥minimum access¡¦ once we join the WTO. The import number of brown rice in 2002 is 8% of the total amount consumed in Taiwan from 1990 to 1992. According to the statistics from the Food Bureau of Taiwan, The total consumption of brown rice in Taiwan in 1990, 1991, and 1992 are; 1,834 thousand tons, 1,897 thousand tons, and 1,694 tons. If we count the grain it would be approximately 2,260 thousand tons. If we use the minimum access policy, 8% of it would be 180 thousand tons of grain. If we do not have the proper ¡¥Tie-in sales¡¦, the price of local rice sales and the amount the farmers earn would fall drastically. Tie-in sale is actually a short-term solution. In the long term, Taiwan¡¦s rice policy will lead to results with tariff. At this moment, the price of Taiwanese rice would not be under any protection, so the most important thing is to raise the ability to compete internationally for Taiwan¡¦s rice. The result, after a careful examination, is that Taiwan is no competition with the U.S., Thailand, and China on the price aspect. Besides from that, the personnel and the space of land cost much higher than the other countries make Taiwan hard to compete. The only way is to raise the quality above the other competition then we can actually have a place to compete with the rest of them. At the same time, if we can create a large-scale center for tie-in sales, it should help lowering the base cost of grain rice. As for the government, it should change the policies to assist with the rice farmers. Transform the current guaranteed purchasing policy for guaranteed price , to direct payment , which should help Taiwan¡¦s rice market to market suitable diversion and reduction ,would minimize the impact actually. . In the future, the rice farmers will grow rice for consumers, not for the needs of the government. The agriculture of rice will go back to the natural market rule; the rice farmers will work with the government to develop higher quality rice. Joining the WTO brings both good and bad to the grain rice industry, so if we can take chances at the right times and avoid risks, we can be in the business for a long time.

After its accession to the WTO, under the open market for agricultural products and reducing domestic support, Taiwan needs to import brown rice of at least 144,000 metric tons, following the rule of minimum access in order to meet the requirements¡¦ of the WTO. To protect farmer¡¦s interest and agriculturalecology, the Taiwan government continues to implement paddy land utilization adjustment policy and price guarantee policy, which sustains government supplement to rice but it fails to reach the good of price stability in the market. This means all related policies still have room for improvement. In recent years, new rounds of negotiation for agriculture under the WTO framework have begun and, due to the pressure of negotiation, it is unavoidable to implement import tariff for rice. Thus, Taiwan¡¦s agricultural sectors are under the threat of a collapse, and to maintain the development of rice farming industry under the WTO regulations will be a very important issue. Also, the government should take more aggressive and prospective measures to overcome the current difficulties of the rice industry. This paper will explore rice policies in Taiwan and propose on improvement with consideration for a long term agricultural policy. Taiwan implements paddy land utilization adjustment policy for the preparation of tariff systems. Although this will meet the WTO regulation in the short term, it would experience risks and challenge, in the future. Currently, alternative plans are not available and what is suggested in this paper basically follows the American FSRIA and Japanese rice stability policies to reach a balance between government and farmers under the WTO regulation, trying to eliminate market intervention and reduce government¡¦s financial burden. With the decline of rice price and rent, the rice industry will develop towards a large scale of management and rice competitiveness will be upgraded, which will then increase farmer¡¦s revenue even when subsidies are reduced.