When President Lai Qingde attended the "2026 Gukeng Bamboo Bamboo Shoot Festival - Bamboo Shoot Banquet" this morning (15th), he said that Yunlin is a county based on agriculture, and taking care of farmers and improving their quality of life is an important goal of the government. In addition to promoting the "three guarantees and one fund" to provide farmers with better protection in terms of health, occupational disasters, agricultural losses, and retirement living, the government is also actively promoting the expansion of the Huwei Campus of the Yunlin Branch of National Taiwan University Hospital to continue to increase local medical capacity. The president pointed out that in the face of the new era of AI technology, the central government will definitely assist Yunlin in its transformation. He hopes that the villagers will continue to work hard with the government to jointly build a new Yunlin so that companies are willing to invest and young people are willing to stay.

In his speech, the President said that he was very happy to participate in the 2026 Gukeng Bamboo Shoots Festival series of activities as a "bamboo shoot friend" today. The scene was very lively and the villagers were also very enthusiastic. Earlier, he visited the stalls one by one and tasted Gukeng coffee, guava, and fresh pineapple juice. He also saw various bamboo shoot dishes. In the aroma of coffee and bamboo shoots, he fully felt the richness of Gukeng's agricultural products and the fruits of the farmers' hard work.

The President pointed out that Gukeng has many nationally famous agricultural products and tourist attractions, including the Jianfu Mountain World and the Green Tunnel where today’s event was held, as well as Gukeng coffee, camellia oil, willow dices, etc., as well as Gukeng bamboo shoots, which are “famous in top port and famous in lower port”.

The President mentioned that the Gukeng bamboo forest covers an area of ​​nearly 3,000 hectares, including Ma bamboo, Guizhu, Mengzong bamboo, etc. Among them, Ma bamboo is the largest. During its peak period, the output once accounted for more than one-third of the country's total, which was quite difficult. He also expressed the highest respect to all farmer friends and thanked them for their hard work in rural and agricultural development over the years.

The president said that the bamboo shoot industry is very valuable, and everything from bamboo shoots to the entire bamboo plant can be used. Bamboo shoots are a healthy food with low calories and high fiber. As the quality of life of Chinese people improves and their life spans extend, they not only need to eat well, but also eat healthily and safely. Therefore, when purchasing food, you can give priority to bamboo shoots, especially "Gukeng" bamboo shoots.

The President especially thanked the township head Lin Huiru and the township office team, as well as the Janfusun Mountain Resort Hotel and other tourism operators for their support. In recent years, Mayor Lin has combined agriculture, tourism and cultural creativity to make the Bamboo Shoot Festival more and more exciting, attracting people across the country to enter the bamboo forest, taste bamboo shoots, and feel the charm of Gukeng’s green countryside. This not only creates more business opportunities, but also gradually builds a complete bamboo industry chain.

The President pointed out that in order to market Gukeng, the head of Lin Township not only held the Bamboo Bamboo Shoot Festival, but also developed it from the Gukeng Liuding Carnival to the Gukeng Liuding Festival, successfully establishing the Gukeng Liuding brand, which can be said to be an important promoter of local marketing. The president believes that the success of the event is not only because of Mayor Lin's creativity and enthusiasm, but also because of his long-term concern for farmers' lives and his active promotion of local industry and tourism development. Therefore, he hopes that the villagers will continue to support him.

The President said that in order to save fellow residents from traveling north and south for medical treatment, Legislator Liu Jianguo actively fought for the expansion of the Huwei Campus of the Yunlin Branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. Last year, he presided over the groundbreaking of the medical building, with an overall cost of more than 10 billion yuan. It will be built on the scale of a medical center and is expected to be opened in 2029. After the future medical building is completed, it will not only benefit the people of Yunlin, but also people from neighboring areas such as Changhua and Nantou will be able to receive medical services in Yunlin.

The President mentioned that Yunlin has a high proportion of elderly people. Commissioner Liu Jianguo also proposed the idea of ​​setting up a National Research Center on Geriatric Medicine and Health and Welfare in Yunlin. He believes that it will be of great benefit to the research and progress of elderly medicine in Yunlin and Taiwan in the future. The expansion of the Huwei campus of the Yunlin Branch of National Taiwan University Hospital and the National Research Center on Geriatric Medicine and Health and Welfare have a total investment of up to 15 billion yuan.

The president pointed out that establishing Yunlin as a county based on agriculture and taking good care of farmers' lives is an important goal of the government. During his tenure as Executive President, Councilor Liu Jianguo began to promote the "Three Guarantees and One Fund" plan, including expanding the coverage of "Farmers' Health Insurance", which the government has already implemented; he also launched "Farmers' Occupational Disaster Insurance" so that farmers who had to bear the risks due to farming injuries in the past can now obtain occupational disaster protection; and promoted the "Agricultural Insurance Law" to encourage farmers to take out insurance in advance, so that they can receive compensation if agricultural damage is caused by natural disasters; in addition, the "Farmers' Retirement Savings Ordinance" was also formulated to make farmers' retirement life more secure. At the beginning of this year, he also asked the Executive Yuan to increase the allowance for elderly farmers so that farmers can receive 10,000 yuan per month.

The president said that the central government has also assisted Yunlin with an additional 7.3 billion yuan in improving agricultural waterways, subsidizing nearly 1.1 billion yuan in purchasing large and small agricultural machinery, subsidizing nearly 1.1 billion yuan in improving cold chain facilities, and subsidizing Yunlin's pig farm upgrades with 700 million yuan. In the past 10 years, the central government has invested a total of more than 20 billion yuan to assist Yunlin with water control, including the improvement of Beigang Creek, Huwei Creek, and Shiniu Creek that flows through Gukeng. By improving water control, the risk of flooding has been reduced. In addition, the "Shui Dei South Bridge" across Shiniu Creek is an important connecting bridge in Gukeng. The overall reconstruction project cost 260 million yuan and was completed and opened to traffic last year. There is also the National Highway No. 3 Gukeng Interchange improvement plan that everyone is very concerned about. The central government fully subsidizes 1.489 billion yuan to build a flat side lane and is expected to be completed in the middle of next year.

The President mentioned that Commissioner Liu Jianguo also put forward many policy suggestions for the future development of Yunlin, including building an "AI Agricultural Dual Technology Park" based on the agricultural capital, combining science and technology and biotechnology, introducing AI, smart agricultural machinery, cold chain, processing, branding and export, so as to upgrade agriculture from output to value, so that farmers can not only grow well, but also sell well; not only have a bumper harvest, but also increase added value.

The president said that if Yunlin wants to reinvent itself and catch up with the needs of the new era of AI technology, it must bravely transform. The central government will definitely assist Yunlin in its transformation, and we also hope that the villagers will continue to work hard with the government to jointly build a new Yunlin, pursue new happiness and a new future, and make companies willing to invest and young people willing to stay.