Lien says cross-Straits cooperation benefits Taiwan farmers

Visiting Chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang Party Lien Chan said in Beijing Friday that he sees immense potential for cross-Straits agricultural cooperation, which is sure to benefit Taiwan farmers.

In his speech delivered at Beijing University, Lien said, " Despite the fact that agriculture is contributing less than three percent to our gross domestic product, we still have several million people involved in agricultural production or other related fields."

In response to a question by a professor of history on Taiwan's agriculture, Lien said the island province has made great progress in agricultural technological development over the past decades but its farmers are suffering from the consequences of abundant farm produce versus a relatively small market and poor distribution networks that often fail to sell out the products in time.

Lien said he hoped to see more Taiwan products sold to the mainland and further cooperation between the two sides in agriculture and stockbreeding sectors.

"The mainland is a huge market and has a sound environment for agricultural development. I'm sure many things that we cannot do in Taiwan can be done here," he said.