The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday honored Taitung County rice farmer Hsieh Mei-kuo (謝美國) with a plaque that reads “Taiwan’s glory” for being the first Taiwanese to win gold at a rice competition in Japan.
More than 5,000 rice products from Japan and around the world competed in the annual International Contest on Rice Taste Evaluation in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1.
The 87-year-old Taiwanese farmer, who has grown rice for nearly six decades, won the award with his organic rice grown in Taitung’s Chihshang Township (池上).
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
His rice breed, named Kaohsiung No. 147, features a light taro aroma and was cultivated by members of the COA’s Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station.
Producing a quality crop requires the subtle combination of good weather and unpolluted soil and water, as well as consistent human effort, Hsieh said.
Weather conditions can have a great effect on agricultural production, and farmers in Taitung have to contend with foehn winds that can ruin crops overnight, he said.
Hsieh added that for him, the knowledge needed to produce quality rice is more profound than that of calligraphy.
Ranked first in a contest against products from the US, Thailand, China and other nations, Hsieh’s rice qualified to compete against Japanese products, Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Jong-i (胡忠一) said.
In the contest with Japanese products, Hsieh’s rice received the second-largest number of votes and won a gold prize, he said.
As Japan highly values rice quality and flavor, Hsieh’s rice could be said to be among the world’s best, Hu said.
Taiwanese farmers had previously received only excellence awards, Hu added.
Last month, 1,140 tonnes of Taiwanese rice were sold to Japan, more than double the annual average in previous years, and 1,400 tonnes are expected to be sold to Japan next year, he said.
Taiwan last year produced up to 1.4 million tonnes of rice, with domestic consumption accounting for 1.2 million tonnes, Food Industry Division Director Lin Chuan-chi (林傳琦) said, adding that only a few thousand tonnes were organic.
To solve an overproduction problem, the agency has advised farmers to grow less and focus on higher-quality breeds, or to turn rice into snack products, while encouraging consumers to purchase domestic products, Hu said.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS