Mon, Dec 30, 2002 page3

• `Outstanding' diplomat had his share of success, challenges while in Africa

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Sitting on a cozy sofa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last Tuesday after receiving the Outstanding Diplomat Award, Liu Wen-li (劉文利) uneasily and shyly leant forward, unaccustomed to the comfort of the quality sofa seldom seen in his second home of Senegal.

  With his weather-beaten face, the 65-year-old agricultural technician shared the story of his three decades of work in Africa, full of tales of endeavors to boost agricultural cultivation amid a harsh and sometimes hazardous environment.

  

  Liu Wen-li, winner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Outstanding Diplomat Award, shows photographs of his time in Africa.

  TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

  "I volunteered to go to Africa in 1965. All we had in mind then was our country and a sense of honor," Liu said.

  "At the time we came from a relatively backward country. So we worked hard in fear that the mission to boost local agricultural cultivation would be defeated by our counterparts from more advanced nations," Liu added.

  Trained at the Taiwan Provincial Chiayi Agri-Vocational School and having taken programs at the Department of Agricultural Extension at National Taiwan University, Liu began his work in Africa by heading to the Ivory Coast in 1965 before moving on to Swaziland, the Central African Republic and Senegal.

  As one of the 5,000 personnel Taiwan has dispatched overseas to deliver foreign aid since 1961, Liu has worked to bring technological know-how to Africa. His recent success in northern Senegal in inciting a "green revolution" has shown that his work has paid off.

  Li Pai-po (李木百浡), assistant secretary general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), Taiwan's main body overseeing foreign aid operations, had praise for Liu's work.

  "After a year of work, relying on only a single technician [Liu Wen-li], we had successfully extended cultivation to 5,000 hectares [in northern Senegal]," Li said.

  Liu has promoted the deep-water direct-sowing technique of rice cultivation to help Senegalese farmers.

  He also introduced Taiwan's high-quality Taichung Sheng No. 10 (台中秈十號) rice to the region in order to improve the value-added component of agriculture.

  As a result of these moves, rice production in the area has increased 20 percent, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs records.

  But when Liu first arrived in northern Senegal, he was greeted with distrust and suspicion.

  The locals were skeptical of Taiwan's decision to send a single technician to the region rather than invest money.

  "Local officials said Japan had invested in a project worth US$30 million, Germany had poured in some US$60 million and the World Bank has devoted US$200 million. And they asked me how much Taiwan planned to spend on its project." Liu said.

  "I said, `nothing, only me.' And the officials went on to say they were afraid it would be unacceptable if no money was invested here," Liu said.

  Senegalese also saw as nonsense Liu's written analysis of impediments faced by local rice production, namely the poor qualify of the rice -- making it unmarketable -- high production costs and a market monopoly.

  Nor was his newly introduced quality rice from Taiwan, a kind of glutinous rice, well received among locals who had harbored a longstanding prejudice against sticky rice.

  But Liu invented a solution that finally boosted the popularity of Taiwanese rice.

  "I gave some of our rice to the locals. One week later, a local general manager of land development returned to me to say that I had created a headache for him because his child would eat nothing but the sticky rice I gave him," Liu said.

  Liu then worked on winning the trust of the locals by moving to curb the three deficiencies in agricultural production that he had detailed in his earlier analysis.

  In an October meeting, Senegalese said that, of the more than 100 countries with whom they worked on cultivation, only Taiwan had produced lasting achievements.

  Senegalese have also asked Liu to stay in the country, despite his approaching retirement date of Jan. 5.

  But the humble son to a farmer's family in Yunlin County also attributed part of his success to the work of other countries in northern Senegal.

  "I am lucky to have been able to work with the infrastructure left behind by other foreign agricultural missions," Liu said.

  Liu, one of 11 recipients of the Outstanding Diplomat Award, has had to contend with illness, the loss of his colleagues and political instability in the region.

  "My husband is very good at getting malaria," said Liu's wife Liao Guei-mei (廖貴美).

  Liu made light of the disease.

  "Mosquitoes loved me best. Whenever my daughter, my wife and I were together, I would be the only one bitten by mosquitoes," Liu said.

  "I get Malaria almost once a year," he added.

  The departure of his Taiwanese colleagues has also saddened him. Chen Hsi-hu (陳西虎), former head of Taiwan's agricultural mission to Senegal, died in May from liver cancer. Chen was the 36th person to die while serving at one of Taiwan's overseas technical missions since 1961, according to ICDF records.

  In 1995, Liu was held at gunpoint by rebels during a coup in the Central African Republic.

  "The capital then was out of control. ... I stayed alone in our technical mission ... and as my colleagues who had already fled phoned to ask if I was OK, the phone line was abruptly disconnected and around nine rebels stormed in with guns," Liu said.

  Losing US$500 to US$600, a camera and his suitcase to the rebels, Liu was shaken by the experience.

  Although Liu still wishes to see quality Senegalese-made rice sold on the European market, he said he's still considering whether he'll return to Africa soon.

  When asked whether he'll stay in Africa for good after retirement, Liu said, "I don't think so. The political environment there is rather unstable. Once any slight commotion or disquiet occurs, we as foreigners will become the first target for rebels."
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