A distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica has urged the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to negotiate a plant and animal species and agricultural technology patent protection agreement to safeguard Taiwan’s agricultural sector.
Wu Jen-leih made the call at a news conference Jan. 17 upon his return from a trip to Beijing as part of Taiwan’s delegation to the first Cross-strait Technology Forum held there last week.
Wu noted that a lot of Taiwan agricultural technology has been introduced into mainland China in recent years, pointing to the grape and orchid growing sectors as examples.
Guangxi province, where grape growing had previously been viewed as unfeasible, has become mainland China’s major grape producing region, he said. “This has happened since the introduction of Taiwan-developed agricultural technology that allows for grape harvests twice per year.”
“The outflow of Taiwan agricultural technology has become a serious problem,” Wu said.
He suggested that Taiwan establish a product and species tracing system, using gene markers and other labeling technology to verify the sources of origin.
This would enable Taiwan’s agricultural sector to obtain royalties for a product line that has been proven to have originated from Taiwan, he explained.
Wu said setting up such a system is the only way to ensure Taiwan’s agricultural patents.
The Council of Agriculture, meanwhile, said it has been developing DNA identification technology for important economic crops such as rice, tea, grapes and bitter melons to protect Taiwan’s agriculture. It is also working to prevent outflow of cultivation technologies, the council said.
