The EPA subsidized the Tainan City Government to purchase digestate-collecting and transporting vehicles in 2020. The vehicles will assist livestock enterprises and farmers with the use of anaerobically-fermented livestock manure as farmland fertilizer, helping them to overcome difficulties arranging crop fertilization schedules when these types of vehicles are lacking. On 15 April 2021, two digestate-collecting and transporting vehicles were officially handed over to Tainan City Government to join its fleet of digestate-fertilizing vehicles.      

The EPA has been promoting the use of livestock manure fermentation digestate as farmland fertilizer. As of March 2021, nationwide there were 1,263 livestock farms permitted to use digestate as fertilizer, 163 farms permitted for agricultural waste reuse and 492 farms with digestate compliant with the Effluent Standards that were allowed to irrigate. The total amount of irrigation water used on farms with digestate has reached approximately 7,600,000 metric tons per year.

In addition, in 2018 the EPA began to subsidize local governments to purchase agricultural equipment and storage tanks as well as collection and fertilizing vehicles in order to provide better digestate handling services to livestock enterprises and farmers. Livestock enterprises, farmers, or non-governmental organizations can apply to purchase these vehicles and storage tanks to transport and store digestate for farmland fertilization and operate them according to crop fertilization needs. As of March 2021, the EPA had subsidized nine counties and cities, including Yunlin County, to purchase 42 collecting and transporting vehicles, 18 fertilizing vehicles or machines and 103 storage tanks.

Excerpt from Major Environmental Policies, May 2021

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