The Council of Agriculture (COA) launched a package of programs yesterday based on its successful 2006 “Stray Bird Project,” which is aimed at getting young people to return to farms in their hometowns.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) said the council has 3,260 openings for people to gain farming expertise or simply to experience farm life at council-contracted farms and agricultural improvement stations.
The agricultural sector has long suffered from a drain of young workers and an aging population. A council survey conducted in 2007 said that the average farmer was 62 years old.
The council initiated the Stray Bird Project in 2006 to keep young people in the countryside or bring them back from cities to eventually take over family farms.
At a press conference, Chen introduced several “stray birds” who had returned to their hometowns and produced high-quality bamboo shoots, green tea, organic vegetables and sugarcane liquor.
The council said nearly 5,000 people joined the program since 2006, with 476 of them becoming full-time farmers.
One was 37-year-old Liu You-lin (劉又菱), who was an insurance broker before she decided to grow vegetables with her husband after taking part in the council’s program. They now own a farm in Taoyuan County that sells a wide range of certified organic vegetables.
The council launched more programs this year, including a short-term vocational training camp; the Stray Bird experience camp; an agricultural camp for university students and summer camps at farming villages for children.
Registration for the new programs began yesterday. Information is available on the Chinese-language Web site at straybirds.coa.gov.tw.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS