In response to this, the Hualien County Government began its own organic cultivation and certification program last year. As the only county government monitoring its organic farmers and with the legal right to certify their produce, Hualien County Government hopes to set a precedent and in turn cultivate organic products that consumers can trust.
Since the program began last year, the east-coast-county government has managed to persuade 100 local farmers to convert to and adopt organic farming methods. The program, although still in its infancy has already proved hugely successful. Last year's harvest of organic produce in Hualien County weighed in at upwards of 900 tonnes.
"The farmers are now confident having seen that going organic doesn't mean going bust," said Du. "Because they know that they are protected and will have any costs and overheads covered by us, they feel pretty safe."
In order to help farmers like Li Jia-fong (
"Without the backing of the county government, I probably wouldn't have changed. It would have been far too costly to do it on my own," said Li. "I had to install several greenhouses and had to install a groundwater pump. These are overheads that farmers who grow non-organic produce never have."
To ensure that all of the organic farmers in the program are able to sell their produce, the county government established a Web site where customers nationwide can order an array of produce.
Since the site went online late last year, hundreds of thousands of customers have opted to purchase their produce on the Web site. The Web site and program have proven so successful that in the week prior to the 2005 Lunar New Year, a staggering 800,000 people purchased produce cultivated by Hualien's organic farmers.
"The program has proven very popular and we hope that other county governments can learn from our success," said Du. "It would be wonderful to see other areas creating their own organic farming programs, and Taiwan could become a leader in organic farming."
RSS