Fujian plans to offer an additional 3 million yuan ($479,233) loan interest subsidy for Taiwan agro-companies in the province in 2018, Fujian Daily reported Monday.
In 2015 China's Ministry of Agriculture launched a pilot project in Fujian to reduce the operation cost of the Taiwan companies in the agro-sector through provision of loan interest subsidies.
Statistics show that more than 50 Taiwan agro-businesses have been granted 14.95 million yuan in subsidies by the ministry over the past three years.
In 2017, the figure reached 4.95 million yuan, with benefit going to 22 Taiwan agro-companies in the province.
The policy greatly alleviates the financing difficulty and high cost facing the Taiwan agro-companies in Fujian, and has been widely acclaimed.
Chen Jianfu, a Taiwan resident who runs a farm in Zhangping, Fujian is one of the beneficiaries of the policy.
"The subsidies offered tremendously fueled our development and growth, when considering the large-scale of investment and long payout period in the sector," said Chen.
In 2016, the Taiwan businessman applied for a loan of 1.25 million yuan and had to pay the bank over 80,000 yuan in interest. However, after deducting the government subsidies, he only had to pay roughly 20,000 yuan.
Officials from the Fujian Provincial Department of Agriculture revealed that all the Taiwan agro-companies in the Taiwan Entrepreneurship Parks across the province are entitled to cuts of 75 percent of loan interest.
This year, on top of the ones from the central government, the Fujian provincial government plans to further its support for companies from across the Strait.
It plans to allocate a fund of 3 million yuan to subsidize Taiwan agro-companies in the province, according to Fujian Daily, citing local authorities.
Fujian maintains close agricultural economic ties with Taiwan, with which it is closely linked.
In 2017, Taiwan's investment in the sector reached $120 million, placing Fujian first among the provinces in terms of level of agricultural investment, according to official data.
