An online platform for sharing information about the nation’s food security, agriculture, environment and similar topics debuted yesterday, with the aim of encouraging people who are interested in the issues to become more involved by taking action through their consumer behavior and by writing.
The Web site, called Upstream and Downstream News&Market, consists of two parts — news content provided by a reporter, citizen journalists, specialists and writers, and an online market that links farmers directly with readers.
“Farms are upstream of food while cities are downstream, both of which encompass all sorts of resources. That is how we named our Web site,” said Sophie Chiang (蔣慧仙), the site’s content editor-in-chief, adding that “we hope everyone can understand the link between farms and cities through this platform, and that people continue to pay more attention to agriculture and food issues.”
TAKING ACTION
We want to express the idea that people who are interested have more options then just reading articles on these issues, they can be more involved by taking action through writing and by how they consume, she said.
According to Chuang, in the initial stage, the online market will focus on promoting products made from plums grown on farms close to the Southern Cross--Island Highway (南橫公路). The roads leading to the farms were partially destroyed by -Typhoon Morakot in 2009, creating many difficulties for farmers selling their produce.
Taiwan-grown wheat products are also being promoted. Increasing numbers of Taiwanese are eating more wheat products and less rice, Chiang said, adding that almost 99 percent of wheat products are imported, so they want to help the few local wheat farmers in marketing their products.
HELPING FARMERS
Chiang said they hope the online market can help local farmers make a living.
Adding that there are about 100 writers that have provided content for the Web site, Chiang said she hopes more people will take part and help raise awareness about Taiwan’s agriculture, food and related environmental issues.
For more information, visit http://118.139.160.192/.
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