THE MARKETJNG OF FARM PRODUCTS BY FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS IN TAIWAN

Following the continuous increase in the national income over, recent decades in Taiwan, with improved living standards as well as widespread urbanization, there have been marked changes in patterns of food consumption and consumer buying behavior. The significant features of these changes are that people are consuming fewer and fewer starchy foods, and at the same time increasing their demand for meat, dairy products, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Statistics indicate that the average annual per capita consumption of rice decreased from 134 kg to 105kg in the decade 1970-80, while at the same time the annual consumption of sweet potatoes fell from 18 kg to kg. The average per capita consumption of fruit increased from 45 kg to 70 kg, and of vegetables from 91 kg to 130kg, during the same period. More specifically, this involved an annual growth rate in fruit consumption of 5.07%, and in vegetables of 3.97%, in contrast to an average annual increase in per capita Gross National Product (GNP) of 7.1%. It shows that the income elasticity of fruit and vegetables is 0.71 and 0.56, respectively.