The Council of Agriculture (COA) is to devote NT$300 million (US$9.82 million) to documenting social changes in rural villages over five years, it announced this week, adding that more than 200 Academia Sinica researchers would contribute to the project.
The council and the institution on Wednesday signed a collaboration agreement, with the council saying that the budget is provided by its Rural Revitalization Fund.
The project is to bring together outstanding researchers from the council and the institution’s Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, who are to record the villages’ political, economic and cultural heritage systematically and comprehensively, Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said.
Based on their findings, researchers are to advise about how to improve agricultural practices in line with the goal of sustainable development, Liao said.
Rural residents are not worried about losing their jobs, which would not cause much extra burden for their families, COA Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) said, adding that the resilience of rural villages used to be seen as a model for family stability in society at large.
As society evolves, new social problems have emerged, and people should think about whether ideas from local culture could help solve these social issues arising from globalization and capitalism, Lin said.
By working with the nation’s most prestigious academic institution, the council hopes to explore new directions for rural development and encourage young people to return to their villages by reminding them of the “hidden treasures” of home, he said.
The council has 61 systems and 76 databases to manage agricultural data, mostly quantitative statistics about production, council Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said.
However, it lacks qualitative analyses about farming methods, rural culture and languages, said Chen, who helps coordinate the collaboration.
The project is to be led by Wang Ming-ke (王明珂), director of Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology.
Researchers are to hail from the institution’s Taiwan History, Sociology, Ethnology, History and Philology institutes, as well as from universities, Wang added.
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