Butterfly orchid producers have introduced radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in a move that is expected to raise productivity, agricultural researchers said on Thursday.
As competition in the global orchid market becomes increasingly fierce, research fellows at the Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute said the nation needs to introduce new technology to sharpen its competitive edge in the sector.
Saying that RFID is a powerful emerging technology that enables companies to keep better track of their assets, tools and inventories, the researchers said introduction of the technology to the orchid business will help improve the accuracy of order delivery dates and quantities, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.
If RFID technology is integrated with other automated production and management systems, local orchid productivity could also be raised significantly, the researchers said.
Saying that orchid cultivation — and butterfly orchids in particular — plays a very important role in the nation’s agricultural sector, an official from the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute said Taiwan must pull out all the stops to breed new orchid hybrids and develop new cultivation know-how to maintain its market niche.
The latest statistics released by the council show Taiwan’s flower acreage totals about 13,475 hectares, with an annual production value of about NT$12.36 billion (US$374 million).
The figures account for only about 1.78 percent of Taiwan’s total agricultural production acreage and 7.34 percent of the total annual farming production value, respectively.
Despite the relatively small share of horticulture in terms of acreage and total production value, the official said the unit production value in the sector is about NT$918,000 per hectare.
Among the various floral species cultivated commercially, orchid farms cover about 592 hectares, but their combined annual production value amounts to NT$2.874 billion, representing a unit production value of NT$4.86 million per hectare and indicating that orchids are a high-yielding cash crop.
In comparison, butterfly orchids occupy an even more central role in terms of economic advantage. Butterfly orchids account for only 33.8 percent of the total orchids farmed but export value accounts for 75.2 percent of the total orchid production value.
These figures signify the importance of breeding new butterfly orchid cultivars and developing new cultivation technologies, the official said.
Through years of strenuous efforts, Taiwan has managed to develop greenhouses that suit the nation’s climatic conditions and has established a cultivation system that can ensure perennial blooming of orchids, the official said.
While local butterfly orchid production acreages and values have continued to increase, with Japan and the US serving as the principal export markets, the official said locally produced orchids have been facing ever fiercer competition from the Netherlands, China and Southeast Asia in recent years.
Against this backdrop, the official said, continued quality improvement and upgrading of productivity has become very important in the effort to sustain Taiwan’s butterfly orchid industry.
The coast guard on Friday took a Chinese fishing boat and the 17 people on board into custody, after it rammed into a patrol boat while attempting to flee. A 100-tonne coast guard vessel at about 8am discovered a Chinese fishing boat illegally operating in waters about 11 nautical miles (20.4km) northwest of Hsinchu, the Hsinchu offshore flotilla of the Coast Guard Administration said. The crew refused to allow law enforcement to board the ship and attempted to flee, it added. The coast guard vessel and another ship chased the fishing boat for about a half hour, during which time the Chinese boat
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday said he would not attend the official Double Ten National Day celebrations for the first time this year, as its English name, “Taiwan National Day,” implies “Taiwan independence.” Writing on Facebook, Ma said he has attended every National Day celebration since entering public service 40 years ago, but “with an exceedingly heavy heart,” has decided to reject this year’s invitation. For the past three years, the government under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has used “Taiwan National Day” for the event’s official English-language title, leaving the “Republic of China” nowhere to be found, he said. The move
RUNWAY UPGRADES: Airports and ports mainly scattered around southwestern Japan are being given major overhauls, primarily serving as civilian-use facilities Japan has chosen 33 airports and ports as candidates for improvement to enhance military capabilities, with a particular focus on infrastructure that could be utilized in a Taiwan emergency, according to a recent report in Japan’s Nikkei Shimbun. Citing the Japanese government’s fiscal budget proposal for next year, the newspaper said Toyko is to name some facilities as essential bases and receive funding for upgrades in line with the revamped national security strategy published last year. According to an unofficial policy document drafted last month and reviewed by the Nikkei, the Japanese government designated 14 airports and 19 ports for improvement, including
RSS