The Council of Agriculture has developed a tea traceability system using cloud computing to allow consumers to trace the source and production of tea, while using Facebook to provide instant advice on pest prevention and control to farmers.
To boost the quality and traceability of tea amid recent pesticide scares involving tea drinks, the council’s Tea Research and Extension Station on Tuesday said that it launched an online platform for tea farmers and enterprises to list the information of each product batch, which consumers can access via a QR code attached to the product or access on a Web site to search for approved suppliers.
Information listed on the Web site includes the product’s place of origin, manufacturer, pesticide test results, certificates and the flow and volume of each harvest, the council said.
Four major tea companies have been included in the system, the Tait Marketing and Distribution Co, the producer of Kaisi oolong tea, and Good Young Co, which supplies the nation’s Starbucks franchises, the council said.
The system also includes 200 small-scale tea farms, with 60 tonnes of tea leaves shipped this year registered in the system, the council said, adding that it aims to include 1,000 tea farmers by the end of this year, and half of the nation’s 12,000 farmers by 2017.
The system could be used to market “quality” and organic tea products, as a tea competition in July saw all the competing, pesticide-free products labeled with the traceability code, the council said.
Separately, the council’s Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station launched a question-and-answer platform on Facebook to provide prompt assistance to farmers in diagnosing suspected plant diseases.
Farmers can upload photographs of affected plants to the council’s Facebook page to seek advice and station staff are to give a diagnosis and suggest pest control measures.
The page has attracted more than 5,000 users, the Kaohsiung station said.
In cases where a suspected plant disease cannot be determined by sight, the council would contact the farmer and request a sample of the diseased plants, the Kaohsiung station said.
Academics have been invited to participate in the platform, the Kaohsiung station said, adding that a suspected case of foliar blight of roselle sparked discussions online.
The tea-tracing Web site can be accessed at www.safetea.com.tw.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS