About 13,000 hectares of farmland nationwide have been found to be occupied by 52,000 illegal factories, Council of Agriculture officials said on Sunday.

Premier Lin Chuan (林全) on Thursday announced that illegal factories built after May 20 last year are to be demolished, followed by illegal factories built before that date.

With the passing of the National Spatial Planning Act (國土計畫法) last year, the government has been preparing for a rezoning of the nation’s land into four categories — national reserves, marine resources, agriculture development and urban development areas.

A council survey found about 13,000 hectares of farmland have been appropriated by illegal factories, Department of Planning Director-General Tsai Sheng-fu (蔡昇甫) said.

An ad hoc committee has been formed by the council, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the Directorate-General of Budget and Accounting and Statistics to deal with the illegal factories.

Each factory claims about 0.25 hectares of land, Tsai said, adding that the council made the estimation based on satellite and aerial images compared with land registration records.

The economic ministry is to list the illegal factories, he added.

The first to be first demolished would be 109 illegal factories in Changhua County, which has the most of all municipalities, Tsai said, adding that the demolition work would be done by local governments.

Owners of illegal factories would have to pay for land restoration, but the fees would be calculated by other agencies, the council said.