農會是農民的自治團體，其成立的宗旨是以服務農民為目的；然而實際情形，農會卻扮演過多的政治角色，使其功能受到嚴重扭曲。在各項公職、民代選舉中，農會為政黨或地方派系候選人積極輔選，成為選舉時的超級樁腳；而農會本身的幹部、職員改選，不同的政治勢力用暴力、賄選介入選舉過程，爭取對農會的主導權，使農會成為政治跳板或鬥爭場所，農民的權益僅成為選舉時的口號。究竟農會的政治角色如何形成？政治勢力介入農會目的何在？農會如何發揮組織動員的力量？以及近年來農會信用部擠兌風波，是否與政治勢力介入相關？這些問題是本文探討的重點。 農會政治角色的形成可追溯到日據時代，殖民政府將農會作為控制農民政治態度及汲取農村資源的工具。國民黨撤退來台後雖進行農會改組，但全時控制農會的態度並未改變。地方派系以支持國民黨政權，獲得區域性壟斷政經利益，農會信用部的豐沛資金則是其一。農會由於有完整的組織動員系統及信用部金融資源，成為政治勢力積極介入的對象。台中縣和高雄縣實證資料說明不論是執政黨或在野黨，以及任何一地方派系，皆積極介入農會人事的改組，爭取對農會的主導權。農會在政治勢力掛帥的情形下，以農民福祉為依歸的功能受到嚴重扭曲，要導正農會角色的發揮，避免基層農會金融風暴的再發生，降低農會的政治角色和信用部的獨立是兩大改革方向。

Farmers' Associations are meant to be self-government associations dedicated to the service of farmers. However, in reality Farmers' associations have taken on strong political overtones, and their effect-tiveness has been affected by this. In elections for all levels of public officials, Farmers' Association have actively campaigned for political parties and/or local factions. In elections for officers of the Farmers' associations, political forces have used bribery and violence to try to gain control of the associations. This has causes the Farmers' associations to become the site of political struggles, and in the process the welfare of farmers has become merely an empty slogan. How have Farmers' Associations evolved into political bodies? What is the goal of the political forces associated with Farmers' Associations? How do Farmers' Associations use their originations to mobilize support? Have the recent runs on Farmers' Associations credit unions been related to politics? These are the main questions that this paper will address. The political overtones of Farmers' Associations dates to the Japanese era. The colonial government treated Farmers' Associations as a tool to control political attitudes and recover capital from farmers' villages. The post-war KMT government overhauled the system, but the basic idea of controlling farmers through Farmers' Associations did not change. The KMT used the Farmers' Associations' credit unions to gain the support for local factions, which gained a local monopoly of politi-cal and financial resources. These abundant financial resources and the well developed orginational resources the Farmers' Association pos-sessed assured that local political forces would compete to participate in the system. The Taichung County and Kaohsiung County examples prove that both pro-KMT and anti-KMT factions strove to gain control of the Farmers' Associations. However, the involvement of politics in Farmers' Associations has downgraded the original mission to serve farmers. Recification of this problem would require a process of depo-liticization and the independence of credit unions from the Farmers' associations.