Some of these developments, which have greatly benefited the local economy, have taken place over the past three years with assistance from the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. These are typical of SMEA initiatives over the last 17 years to reverse the decline of rural areas and stem the nation's brain drain. In 1989, the SMEA launched a plan to promote local industries, which, in 1994, was expanded to assist small and medium-sized businesses in suburban communities.
The conditions that led to the agency's creation are still valid today. As the cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development notes on its Web site, decline in areas such as Jioufen is due to technological advances, overall trends toward urbanization and the effects of globalization. In other words, rural residents had moved to the cities in search of jobs, and Taiwan's industries had moved to areas where costs were lower. Those residents who remained had little or no idea of how to develop and market innovative products, far less how to transform their culture and products into unique tourist attractions.
It was in view of this kind of problem, SMEA Deputy Director Yeh Yung-lung explained in a Sept. 28 report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times that industries selected under his administration's plan should have unique features, relating to the history and culture specific to the area. To implement its "One Town One Product" plan, the SMEA would act as a platform to coordinate various government agencies and departments and to help local residents reorganize and integrate their resources, so that they could obtain the necessary training to promote the selected industries.
Under the plan, the SMEA applied knowledge-based concepts to the traditional industries and cultural heritage assets specific to certain townships, promoting products like the dried persimmons of Sinpu Township in Hsinchu County, black tea of Yuchih Township in Nantou County and bamboo charcoal of Jhushan Township also in Nantou County. To date, 111 local industries have been promoted and 25 sales centers established under the plan, thus creating new clusters of value-added industries in previonsly disadvantaged areas.
An SMEA spokesperson claimed Dec. 18 that an average 3.5 jobs could be created from every business promoted, which meant young adults would have a better opportunity to work in their hometowns. In addition, the government has also profited from the venture, with every dollar allocated to these industries bringing a three-dollar return.
SMEA projects have generated US$16.3 million and provided 5,500 jobs since 1993. The project implemented in Jioufen and Jinguashih from 2003 to 2005, in particular, helped to revive local B&B and restaurant businesses, creating 47 jobs and increasing revenues by US$446,000, the CEPD Web site claimed.